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t 


GREAT ORIENTAL 

—AND— 

TRANS-CONTINENTAL 


A DIRECT ALL-RAIL ROUTE FROM NEW ORLEANS. LA., 


TO ST. PETERSBURG, PARIS AND LONDON, VIA. THE BEHRING STRAIT ; AND A 
TRUTHFUL AND INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF THE PROGRESS OF THE 
UNITED STATES— INDUSTRIAL AND POLITICAL, FOR TWENTY 

YEARS ; AND THE 

V ’ 

CAUSES LEADING UP TO THE CONSTRUCTION 




OF THE LINE BY THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE WORLD AND A SYNDICATE OF 
MISSISSIPPI AND LOUISIANA CAPITALISTS, FROM CAPE HORN IN SOUTH 
AMERICA TO THE CAPE 0¥ GOOD HOPE IN SOUTH AFRICA. 


— 


A HUMOROUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL DISCUSSION 

OF THE LEADING ECONOMIC QUESTIONS UP-TO DATE, SUCH AS THE NEW 
WOMAN, THE FINANCIAL QUESTION, AND THE LABOR PROBLEM, WITH 
MANY HITS IN POLITICS, OR THE SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT. 

\ 


FILLED WITH WIT, HUMOR, SATIRE AND PHILOSOPHY. 



On^s IEj. ^3.1896 

II 

A Baggage Master on the 

Great Queen tfc Orescent 
( V. S & P. DIVISION. ) 



Published at the Commercial Herald Printing and Publishing HousEj 

VICKSBURG, MISS, 


COPYRIGHTED BY CHAS. E. CASH. 

1890 - 

All Rigiits Reserved. 


DEDICATION. 


First, to my superior officers on the great Queen and Crescent Railroad, 
whose many acts of kindness, extending through fifteen years of steady employ- 
ment, shall always be gratefully remembered by me ; to my old companion, 
and Train Conductor, for many years, A. J. Hood, of the Vicksburg, Shreveport 
and Pacific Railway, whose kind manner, under many trying circumstances 
connected with the train service and railroad life, and whose common sense 
was well known and duly appreciated by me ; also to A. J. Reynolds, the pro- 
prietor of the City Hotel, Shreveport, Louisiana, where the writer stopped for 
many years, and whose kindness he feels he can never repay ; including the 
Daily Press of New Orleans and Shreveport and Vicksburg, whose efforts to 
build up the country have met with much success in the past twenty years. 

And especially to my devoted wife, who, at all times and under all circum- 
stances, pointed me to the bright star of the future, this little volume of past 
time is most affectionately dedicated by the author. 

Yours truly, 

CHARLES E. CASH, 

Baggage Master V., S. & P. R. R. 





INTRODUCTION. 


Every one who writes a book, is al- 
ways expected to occupy the first few 
pages with what is called a preface. 
In this he is sure to try to square him- 
self, wi'th the long sufCering public, for 
the infliction oif one more book. Not 
wishing to depart from this time hon- 
ored custom, which has been laid down 
by all the great writers who have pre- 
ceded me, I shall here give some of the 
causes leading up tO' the recording of 
the true things, which are written in 
t'his book, which is now published and 
offered to the' public, for liberal patron- 
age and kindly criticism. About ten 
years before the time you now read, I 
was sent out to flag one night, on the 
V., IS. & P. 'R. R., in Louisiana, near 
where there had been a wreck and 
being all alone I allowed my imagina- 
tion to take charge of a train of 
thoughts that passed rapidly before 
me. I thought of all the great changes, 
political and commercial, which had 
taken place about me' in the past twenty 
years, and there spread out before me 
I saw a greatl map; and on it I 'read the 
future possibilities of the world and my 
friends. Making only mental notes o^ 
the same at the time, I have, from time 
to time, written them out, as they, from 
day to day, unfolded themselves to me. 
The author can, with truth, say that it 
is no wish for literary fame, that has 
caused these notes to take this form; 
but, like the candidate standing the 
twentieth time for re-election, he has 
yielded to the advice of friends. Who 
he is, and what he does for his living, 
has been truthfully told in the book 
named for him, “Cash vs. Coin,'’ an an- 
swer to “Coin’s Financial iSchool,” and 
also in this introduction. For in its 
presentation I repeat with truth that 
it was not my original intention to do 
so. The greater part of this material 


was jotted down a long time ago, and 
was only for my personal amusement, 
and tO' exercise what talent, if any, I 
possessed a.s a writer of fiction and im- 
agination. After this manuscript was 
put together, as you now find it, many 
personal friends advised me to publish 
it for the amusement of my friends, 
which I am endeavoring to do. I de- 
sire to say that I have nO' wish to bur- 
lesque them and would, if in my power, 
giye them all I have given them in this 
little book and more. They are such 
personal friends as come to my mind 
when writing this story. The same po- 
sitions could have been given to many 
others, or made imaginary, though I 
regard them all as my friends, and if 
they do not reach these things, it shall 
not be because they were not compe- 
tent, or because I 'dO' not wish it. There 
are many others whom it would have 
pleased me to have made a more 
thorough examination of the stars, and 
cast a horoscope for them, in this book 
in some complimentary way. This 
would have carried the work far beyond 
the scope of interest which I hope you 
shall find in it. The economic ques- 
tions I feel to safe tO' say, are all 
sound, and will stand the most severe 
criticism. While I have indulged in 
some fun and humor, II hope I have also 
indulged in some logic. What I have 
said on the election laws, dramshop 
laws, and the colored race, and the 
financial problem I believe will meet 
with the approval of all fair minded 
and thinking men. Tliisi or no other 
government can make values by its 
fiat of law, as has been' abundantly 
proven many times before the present 
silver craze struck the country. 

The advantages of Vicksburg, Miss., 
and Shreveport, La., as manufacturing 


4 


INTRODUCTION. 


points are beyond dispute. There is 
ample ground room to make them ri- 
vals of St. Louis, or Chicago. I believe 
the day is coming, and coming fast; 
when every city in the South of ten 
thousand and over will be the home 
of many good manufacturing plants, 
giving employment to labor. My cot- 
ton factory scheme is as practical as it 
would be to spank your two year old 
boy, and all towns or cities who have 
not as yet built their millsi may use it 
without fear of prosecution from me; I 
would throw no stone in the way of the 
employment of labor, whether it be one 
man, or a million men. To repeat, the 
author believes that the South should 
and will yet lead in the production of 
the cotton goods of the world, and that 
they will go to the point and the per- 
fection I have pictured them. 

I do not claim to be a prophet or the 
son of a prophet, but much that I have 
pictured in this book I believe will 
come. Nothing ventured, nothing 
gained, is an old proverb, especially 
applicable to Vicksburg, and many 
other cities at present. Then, aside 
from, all the federal officers, which 
Vicksburg and Shreveport have cap- 
tured in twenty years all the other is 
possible, and probable. When the au- 
thor came to Vicksburg twenty-five 
years ago, no one could have made him 
believe that he would live to see what 
he has seen. Then with that “Great 
Ferris Wheel,” of self-interest, con- 
stantly turning, who can say that he 
may not even live to see the realiza- 
tion of the greater part of these won- 
derful political changes and other 
things. One prophecy is worthy of 
mention. 

That portion of this work in refer- 
ence to Major McKinley, of Ohio, as the 
President of the “United States,” was 
written as far back as five years ago — 
and not one word has been changed. 
That part will be found in the second 
chapter. As that gentleman has lately 
walked off with the Republican nomi- 
nation at St. Louis, it looks like I am 
something of a prophet. My thanks are 
due, and here acknowledged to my 
friend, J. P. Freeman, the baggage 
agent at the Union Depot, Shreveport, 
La. Also Prof. C. P. Kemper, the su- 
perintendent of the public schools of 


Vicksburg, and the character, as the 
clerk of the Transportation Depart- 
ment of the United States government, 
under whose critical judgment these 
notes were much improved. Lest there 
be some question as to the originality; 
it may be proper to here state, that the 
Hero was imagined between the years 
1890 to 1896, and was for the amuse- 
ment of my friends, as aforesaid 
and not to fill a long felt want 
in the field of literature, though 
I 'think you shall find things in 
this book you have never seen 
in any other work. It is now published 
for the benefit of a distressed commu- 
nity, the author is that community. 
Where is the evidence to show, that 
there is any great mystery about the 
labor problem — that workingmen, shall 
maintain three or four men at salaries 
from three to four thousand dollars per 
year, to chase over the land in “Pull- 
man Palace Cars,” and harangue them 
with the information that our employers 
wish we were all in Hades? The au- 
thor does not believe that the men who 
employ laborers hate or dislike us; 
and such thoughts and feelings exist 
only in the imagination of the walking 
delegate and the buncombe orator. Is 
the road to view the “Castle,” known as 
the financial question, long, dark and 
gloomy, with winding stairs and myste- 
rious chambers, whose explorations can 
only be made by some Congressman 
or Secretary of the Treasury, or news- 
paper editor, money may be said to be 
“sound” when each and every dollar, 
has the same purchasing and debt pay- 
ing power and none is held at a 
premium over the* other. The difficulty 
one may experience in obtaining a 
loan and the security he may be re- 
quired to give, or the interest he may 
pay, cuts no ice in the case, and de- 
pends upon locality and the demand 
and supply of money, the security of- 
fered, and not the kind. Free silver 
would not help this any more than 
would free pewter, or free lead or 
copper. “Oh! Ye of little sense.” The 
argument of the free silver men, that 
it would enable them to pay their debts 
with more ease may be true, but I think 
they got good money or produce worth 
— good money if the debt was con- 


INTRODUCTION. 


5 


tracted in the last twenty years. If 
they are repudiators, all well, and 
good. When we know what the plat- 
form is, we know where we stand. 
The author will conclude what he has 
to say by observing that every ten or 
twenty years the same questions are 
I presented to the Amercian people for 
, discussion and solution. Exceptions 
» may be made, of the labor problem, 
which is always with us, as we always 
; have the rich and the poor. The actors 
: may be different, but the questions are 
' the same. I have no apology to offer 
to the reader, for presenting the Hero 
; of this story, Capt. John GWover, under 
; the fiction of twenty years from now. 

while he uiscusses the questions up to 
I date. I believe in common with most 
1 men, that what there is for lindividuals 
or communities, must in the very na- 
i, ture of things, be in the bright future, 

! taking the present as the starting point. 

Being a true representative of the 
; working man, holding no office under 
! our government, I believe I have pre- 
seated some wholesome facts that will 
I ■ be well worthy of their consideration. 

■ Many of the books and newspaper ar- 
I tioles and the speeches and other ut- 
, terances of some of our public men 
: have for years been of a character to 
I; greatly intensify the feeling and bit- 
terness between “capital and labor,” 
driving capital Into other channels, 
greatly to the injury of the working- 
man. The author sympathizes with 
the struggling poor in all lands, and 
especially in the great cities of our 
country. Whatever improvement may 
I come to them, must come through some 
I such plan as I have mentioned in this 
i book. There could be some objection 
to the scheme or plan for the improve- 
j ment of the condition of the men on 
the great railways of our country, as 
I is told by Col. John Morris, one of the 
j General Managers on the Great Orien- 
I tial Railway, though I am convinced 
; its fruit would be sweeter than that 
I' which grew on the tree of Eugene V. 

Debs. The introduction of my friends, 
* well known citizens of Vicksburg and 
; Sherveport and New Orleans and the 
prominent men of the United States, 
3 as the characters and associates of this 


wonderful Capt. Glover, who is wholly 
imaginary, was not borrowed from 
Harvey, of “Coin’s Financial School” 
fame, but was original with me, as this 
work was nearing completion when 
that book made its appearance. I be- 
lieve this Great Oriental Railway will 
y et be built, through South America and 
through Asia, if not by my friends, 
then by others. I believe the growing 
interests, and commerce of our country 
will demand that it be done. The 
scheme is as practical a one as it was 
to build from New Orleans to New 
York, and it is only a question of mon- 
ey, so the best informed civil engineers 
tell me. The author invites any fair 
criticism from any quarter that this 
book may go on the practicability of 
the scheme — ^of joining the worlds 
with a railway. The piece of poetry in 
this preface is by my friend. Will H. 
Tunnard, editor of the Shreveport 
Times, and a great deal of typewriting 
was done for me by my friend, Sercy 
B. Atkersoni, of Ruston, La., the char- 
acter of the Paymasteir of the Great 
Oriental Railway, and he decides an 
important case. The position I have 
taken on the financial question, is in 
line with the great minds 'Of the age, 
and cannot be overthrown by any 
sophistry of argument. The humor and 
satire of the character I hope will be 
seen and appreciated. The work was 
prepared mornings and evenings, after 
daily discharging my duties as a Bag- 
gage Master on the Great Queen & 
Crescent route, the most popular line 
North, East and West. Therefore it 
may not have that ease and smooth- 
ness in its reading, that characterizes 
the work of those who make literature 
a profession. It has been suggested 
by some, that in looking backwards 
the Captain should have annihilated 
the drink habit, and left the breweries 
out. Permit me here to say, that while 
I Joiok for some decrease in that line, 
I do not expect to live to see its total 
destruction. The evils that afflict so- 
ciety may decrease, but they will, in 
my judgment, never totally disappear. 
All the beautiful things pictured by the 
Prohibitionist may come in the next 
world, but never in this. The reader 


t 

I- 


6 . 


introduction. 


will note well the date in the first chap- 
ter, Remeimber, you are mow clothed 
with immortality, and stick to the text, 
and if any part should come true in 
the allotted time, then the Hero can- 
not be charg-ed as a wild and impracti- 
cable dreamer. The style in which this 
wofrk is printed was adopted for the 
reason that the author had only a few 
thousand to use in that way, having 
promised after the election to subscribe 
liberally to the free silver, 16 to 1, fund, 
for the purpose of propagating that doc- 
trine among the South Sea Islanders, 
and the Patagoinians and Hottentocks, 
by the establishment of missions. I 
could make some comment om the 
.“Transportation Department,” as is 
told in chapter twenty by my distin- 
guished friend, Senator Newton C. 
Blanchard, of Louisiana, and to please 
the “People’s Party” I could have ad- 
mitted that the general government 
should buy all the railroads and the 
modest sum of ten billons, which they 
would cost, was nothing, when as a 
matter of fact, it would bankrupt all 
the governments in Christendom. .We 
could print this amount of bonds, in 
less than thirty days, and the interest 
of four or five millions on these bonds 
one way or the other, is a mere trifle 
with a Populist financier, to say 
nothing of the millions lost to all 
States, in the way of taxes. Before I 
admit all this, some one will have me 
by the 'back of the neck, and be pushing 
me in some mad house. There is no 
more sense, or reason why this govern- 
ment should own the railway and tele- 
graph lines than there is that they 
should own the dry goods and the gro- 


cery stores. The author does not be- 
lieve that the officers selected by the 
government to run the railroads will 
be any better or more considerate than 
are the present ones. Men are only 
men, and we are all human, but I shall 
stop for it is fair to presume on pre- 
sumptions that are presumable, that 
is to say if you have bought this book 
you will read it. 

For time’s golden sands, with steady 
flow 

Sift through the glass with brilliant 
g'low. 

While living now, with hope and joy, 
Brings pleasure’s bowl without alloy. 

Expansion’s treads with radiant gleam 
Has borne us on life’s sparkling stream; 
And plenty’s smile with gen’rous hand, 
Has blessed our homes in this fair land. 

As comes the days of winter’s cold, ^ 
So mirth and cheer our homes enfold; 
While all the earth with songs resound. 
And gladsome hearts spread cheer 
around. 

Behold the gleam that brightly shines 
Prom hearts and souls these glorious 
times. 

And in your joy, so full of glee. 

Take offices free from what Capt. GMo- 
ver shall see. 

r 

So with these comments and expla- 
nations, I now invite you to read my 
story of the Great Oriental Railway 
and its Hero, who plays all the time. 
Yours truly, 

CHAS. E. CASH, 
The Baggage Master. 


THEE 



CHAPTER I. 

Capt. Glover Comes to Vicksburg, Mississippi. 


Here I am in Vicksburg again. 
Twenty years have passed swiftly and 
smoothly by and but for my ability to 
recall many things, I would be surprised 
to find myself upon my old stamping 
ground in this first quarter of the 
twentieth century for, as I live, this is 
the year of our Lord, 1914. On the first 
day of January, 1894, I, Captain John 
B. Glover, who shall now tell you of 
many wonderful things which have ta- 
ken place, and in which I was an in- 
terested actor, left the Hill and historic 
city of Mississippi for the “far away 
Orient.” _N'OW you must not suppose 
that these happenings of which I shall 
tell you took place in some remote vil- 
lage, inaccessible by river or rail, for 
they did not. Many of them toiok place 
in the various parts of this great coun- 
try, but most of them in a well known 
city. Nor are they mythical things or 
mythical men, who have an existence 
only in the vivid imagination of some 
“book writer;” for where is the man or 
woman of fair education who has not 
heard of Vicksburg, Miss.? A big city 
famed in song and istory and around 
which cluster, as ivy to the oak, roman- 
tic, historical and social interests, sec- 
ond to no city in this great country, 
and on the east bank of the great Mis- 
sissippi river, and half way between 
New Orleans and Memphis, and reach- 
ed now by the greatest railroads in the 
world. Such were my reflections as I 
thought of the place. I was then sit- 
ting in a park in an elevated place 
formed by nature and known for many 
years as the “Oastle Hill,” being at one 
time before the war of the States the 
site of an old building greatly resemb- 
ling an English castle. Now some peo- 
ple In going to a city visit the “ceme- 


tery.” I take it they are cheerful in 
their natures. And I always look up 
the parks and the public libraries; in 
the one I study books, in the other men. 
Just at this juncture a tall, handsome 
man ascended the broad istone steps 
leading firom the Washington boule- 
vard. Now I was never cold or mis- 
anthropical and there is nothing in my 
face that would turn men from me. I 
have been in some big comipany (in my 
life, as you will see before you are done 
with me, and in a few moments there 
was begun a friendship, which lasted 
through life. He drew from his pocket 
the finest cigar I ever smoked and itold 
me that his name was Col. Andrew J. 
Bancroft, a relative of the historian 
by that iname; that he had lived in 
Vicksburg for abiout eighteen years, 
and was from Lowell, Mass., and that 
at this time he was the manager and 
part owner of the “Vicksburg Cotton 
and Woolen Mills,” pointing as he 
spoke, with his right hand due south 
from the park. 1 noticed for the first 
time a large building where many years 
ago stood the “United States Marine 
Hospital.” Old citizens of the city will 
know this locality and a stranger may 
go and see these big miills if he should 
be passing that way. The manager, as 
he will be! known in these pages, was 
quick to see the expression 'Of surprise 
on my face, and this caused him to ask 
for the first timie if I was a stranger in 
the country and the city; and if I had 
never been in the iSouth before. I re- 
plied that the mere pointing out of a 
big cotton mill was not sufficient of it- 
self tO! cause a mian; to be agitated; that 
I always thought the South was the 
proper place for the cotton mills and 
that I had many times heard of the 


8 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 

building of one in Vicksburg wihen I of States, .provided fheir business was 
was a young man, but that the joy of an honorable one, that would assist in 
seeing it took my breath away; I ithen employing the labor, and in developing 
toid him that I was born in the “United the resources of the country. I replied 
States ’ and was eligible to the “pres- that my isheme was one of the most 
idency,” and (had lived some years in useful of the age in which we lived; 
Vicksburg and New Orleans, but that that it would oost in .round numbers 
in 1894, twenty years previouis, the about twenty millions of .dollars; that 
country hadhecome overrun with “wild u would .afford permanent employment 
and wooley” men; that I was never to .about five thousand or more men. 
oonsidered a weak minded man and Now, when I left America electricity 
they did not in the least frighten me was in its infancy as a motive power, 
away, but that I .had some friends in and to use it sucoe.ssfully in a city hav- 
Bomibay, India,” who had at the time inig many hills as -has the city of Vicks- 
large interests in ‘this country; that burg, Mississippi, was considered im'- 
they became uneasy and had secured practicable, so you may imagine my 
me to wind up their .business, and hav- si/r prise again w(hen I saw electric cais 
ing made a goiod impression on them climbing the steep grades in which the 
they then made me a very fiattering Qjty abounds. One of them came flying 
offer to go to that city. “Bombay, In- up the boulevard in front of the park, 
dia,” and .enter the banking business, ^ith as much ease as water flows down 
and that I had been living in that coun- ^nd the horseless carriage was 

try for nearly twenty years, and that nig.ht behind, in fact racing it. I asked 
nally bought me a ..railroad and had manager if this power was electric- 
had little or no inform-ation about the ^ty, or did my eyes deceive me; that 
country of my birth in all these years, j uot want to appear facetio.us, but 
which had to me passed like a sum- that I had once seen electric cars pre- 
mier s dream; that I had fine health pened by “Texas mules.” The mana- 
and enough of this w.orld s goods to .g.g,j. -panted to know of me if this was 
get what I .needed; that I had always the “Sandwich Islands” and was 
been very .optimistical abont my oo.un- disposed to regard my statem.ent of a 
try, and had been successful in getting .as one of “Baron Munchausen’s” 

the confidence and .m.oney to invest of fairies. i ,told him no, but in one of the 
a good many .capitalists in my easitern onies of the United States in 1890, or 
home, as many men had done before twenty-four years before our oonver- 
me, and that I was here to launch one saitions. It was no joke and could be 
of the largest schemes ever projected proved by court records. With this 
for the welfare of this country. That .manager fainted dead away. He 

I would not .at prese,nt explain fully, but gave me some information on pow- 


that a fleet of fifty sihips was on the 


e.r and electricity that miay startle you. 


way.to this city and New Orleans; that jje said that the great Niagra Palls 
I would often have occasion .to refer to .^ad been harnessed as a power to pro- 
them as my ships, since I was largely p^j n,aohl.nery and .had developed a 
interested in them; that I intended to t^eruty-five million horse poiwe.r; that 
look around to see how I would be re- thousands of dynamos were run there 
celved, and to find out what new laws summer; that ei.ties hun- 

the country had passed to give others pjjigg ^.^^y were lighted up at 

the power to meddle with others’ busl- 

ness; that, in fine, much of the prelim- electricity furnished by that 

inary work of my .scheme had been al- grandest phenomena of nature; that 
ready done by myself with letters. The current was conducted by an un- 
manager replied that he was pleased derground .system; that a billion of 
to welcome me and that .men from all dollars .had been spent-not by con- 
countris except those of China and Ja- captaln-ln building 

pan; (the government had to legislate pjapt- that the city of New Orleans 
again&t that country also on acount of ailways determined to 'have and to get 
their cheap labor), were welcome in all best was now connected, with the 
of the cities and towns in this Union dynamos of Niagara and that Vicks- 


TilE GREAT ORIENTAL ANt> TRANR-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


9 


burg, Monroe and Sibreveport were sure 
to be in (the circuit. He then explained 
that the pipe, a two inch 'ome, would 
be laid to the outskirts of the city, with 
wire inside, and all the city had to do 
was to put up her system of poles and 
make the connection, something on the 
principal used in the telephones, and 
she would get the current. This saved 
the expense of power-houses, and 
greatly reduced the cost of lights. All 
cities on ithe line can tap the “main” 
the same as you would in a water- 
works system. He then told me that 
his fine railroad covered all the prin- 
cipal streets of the city, going to the 
historic spoit where “General Pember- 
ton” surrendered to “General U. S. 
Grant,” which is marked by a gun 
monument erected (by the U. S. govern- 
ment and now about the centre of the 
“National Military Park,” also (to the 
“U. S. National Cemetery,” of which 
Vicksburg has the prettiest in this 
country, with the exception of the Ar- 
lington at the National capital; that it 
also Iran to a fine local spring, five miles 
north of the eity. Here were also lo- 
cated the fair grounds and a driving 
park; that all of this has coist $350,00; 
that Captain Chester R. McFarland, 
who has oither honors, was the general 
manager of the company. The time 
having pleasantly passed in each oth- 
ers company, we bid each other good- 
bye, he going towar/ls his factory, and 
I to my hotel. He promised to meet 
me again at the office of his factory, 
when he would show me (this fine place 
and tell me how it had all come about 
Before I had bid him good-bye I made 
some allusion to the pretty park where 
we had met, where tall and beautiful 
trees cast their mystic shadows, while 
flowers bloomed and birds sang, and 
where many fountains cast aloft high 
in the air their crystal sprays, and he 
smiled at my bewilderment. 

Now whene I arrived in the ecity it 
was 12 o’clock at night, and twenty 
years had made me something of a 
stranger. I told the porter coming 
down from Memphis, that I had some 
big things on hand and I wanted to 
go to the sweill hotel of the city called 
the “Grand Central.” I could have 
kept on to New Orleans, had I not 
choose to stop here, but you would 


have missed much that will be interest- 
ing to you, that this hotel was on the 
corner of China and ^Vashington 
streets, was eight stories high, contain- 
ed over 250 fine rooms, and was better 
than any tiling even in the great city 
of Chicago. The waiters all wore even- 
ing dress suits, and the time consumed 
in meals was as long as the moral law 
and as severe on my nerves. Now I 
cannot help it that the things seen by 
me and whose existence there can be 
no doubt did not take place tin New 
York City; it is no fault of mine that 
the “battle of Waterloo,” where the 
star of Napoleon went down forever, 
did not take place near Chicago, and 
is not to day listed as among the many 
attractions of that great “Windy.” 
But my duty as a truth telling man 
demands that I record the time and 
the locality of these things, what took 
place, what was said, and what was 
done; for every thing must have a lo- 
cality as every great man must have a 
home, and I shall avoid as much as 
possible descriptions that are not es- 
sential. All the reader wants is the 
truth, and he does not care where it 
was told. Now old Rome is said to 
have been built on seven hills, and 
from her throne of beauty ruled the 
world, but Vicksburg can beat that 
by about seventy. It was indeed a 
pleasure to me to note the total anni- 
hilation of those old unsightly holes 
and hills, which has characterized the 
old city ever since the woodman’s ax 
had first rung in the forests of the 
“walnut hills;” for a new standard of 
grades had been established many 
years ago, by W. Smedes Vossburg, a 
young civil engineer, and there were as 
many pretty walks and drives as I 
had ever seen in any city, and notwith- 
standing many people had “wheels in 
their heads (“(bicycle wheels”) I saw 
some teams go by me making time un- 
beaten by Maud S., or Nancy Hanks. 
Now to walk the streets, see pretty 
homes, handsome stores and big busy 
hives of industry, was always a pleas- 
ure to me, for I was always interested 
in the people who must work for their 
daily bread, and I never failed to do 
so in every city of my asquaintance. 


10 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 


Some years ago when Col. Ingersoll 
was in New Orleans he was asked if 
he was not goting out to see the city. 
He cynically reiplied that they were all 
alike— more streets and more houses 
and “more streets.” The Colonel made 
a good speech, as he always does, and 
would have left a good impression, but 
the mistake of not wishing to see the 
city spoiled the whole thing. It is al- 
ways best to be an optimist where 
you live — an enthusiast where you are 
a guest. To go to New Orleans, which 
Is one of the quaint cities of this coun- 
try, and express no admiration for it, 
and no desire to see dt, is one ot the 
few things, that Is beyond pardon. The 
people of New Orleans all love and ad- 
mire their city as they should, and 
you could not disgust them more if 
you were to give them all a quart of 
ipecac for champagne. As for the 
writer he likes New Orleans. She is 
to him one of the great citieiS of the 
world, and many years of push ha.s 
put her in the lead of the commercial 
citites of our Union of States. She 
has more beautiful women and more 
charitable institutions, and more hos- 
pitable people than any city in this 
country. She has an optimistical and 
progressive press and before you are 
through with what Capt. Glover has 
to say — you will see that she is on the 
lime of one of the biggest things in 
this universe, and fully up with the 
Hill City, and she will be the scene of 
some interesting things in the career 
of the Captain. 


CHAPTER 11. 

The fourth day after my arrival in 
the city I recalled the promise to visit 
my friend the “Manager,” and stepping 
into the electric car in front of my 
hotel, I wias soon stopped in front of 
the office door, of the Vicksburg Cotton 
and Woolen Mills. They proved to be 
much larger than I had supposed, view- 
ing them as I did from a distance, and 
they were four stories high, taking in 
a big square, over 2,500 feet in every 


direction, and having many ware- 
houses. Eintering the fine office through 
a well kept flower garden. I entered 
the door. My friend, the Manager, was 
on the lookout for me. Within his fine 
office, the first on the right as you go 
in, I saw the President also, sitting be- 
neath a large picture of himself. I 
was then introduced to Capt. Edward 
C. Carroll as the head of this big plant, 
doing many wonderful things and the 
place where I was to hear much that 
was new to me. The Manager hinted 
that I had some big things on hand 
myself; but the President was too po- 
lite to ask what they were; you will 
learn, however, as we progress. Presi- 
dent Carroll remarked that he had some 
letters to write to the Emperor of Chi- 
na about his order then in the mill, 
and that he would, for the present, 
hand me over to the Manager, who 
would try to entertain me. The Man- 
ager replied that if I was iin no hurry 
he would give me some of the history 
of the mill, as it seemed to interest me. 
I frankly admitted that a cotton mill 
with 2,500 operatives was of more in- 
terest to me than the fine parks and 
the fine street railroads of the city; 
that fine parks in a city where thou- 
sands of people were all idle always re- 
minded me of a mian dressed in rags, 
with a silk plug hat upon his head — 
that I considered plenty of work at 
good wages and under good officers, 
whether in the factories or on the 
railroads, the true and only solution of 
labor or political troubles; that I 
thought sensible people had long ago 
made up their minds that legislating 
moiney into the pockets of the people 
was not only wrong in principle but 
the height of folly; that the only prop- 
er way to get a dollar, was to work for 
it or sell somethhing for it. This re- 
mark brought the Manager to the 
front on the all-absorbing-labor ques- 
tion, and I learned that he, like my- 
self, had read well the works of Ed- 
ward Kellogg on “Capital and Labor,” 
Henry George on “Single Tax,” Hub- 
bard Leslie’s “Coming Climax,” or the 
scathing abuse of every man with a dol- 
lar; Caesar’s or “The Bad Dreams of 
Arch Pessimest,” W, T. Stead, *Tf 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


11 


Christ Came to Ohiioago,” including 
Edward .Biellamiy’s “Jjaotoing Back- 
ward,” and many others on the distri- 
bution of wealth. The work of Bella- 
my was good for the day of the mil- 
lenium, which seemed to him to be 
as far iin the future as the creatiom 
was in the past — that the working men 
had about the same amount of human 
nature tin them that they had twenty 
years ago; that what they still wished 
for was work at fair wages — and that 
with their money, they could satisfy 
their individual wants or tastes. The 
work of Henry George had a good 
sound like the cry of free silver, but 
there was nothing in it, when brought 
under the view of good common sense. 
He was willing to, admit that there was 
no trouble for men to agree as to 
wro)ngs,and maladjustments of wealth. 
But that a war of angry words al- 
ways .began when they tried to agree 
as to remedies; that every man was 
like the tanner, who said there was 
nothing like leather, and if all the pet 
schemes or any number of them had 
'been adopted by the people, the 
“United States” we would have long ago 
had 'Macauley’s New Zealander look- 
ing upon the ruins of the capitol at 
Washington City. “Captain,” said he, 
“what I have to say to you today will 
be no love story, but something that 
all men in this country are interested 
in knowing, and especially men who 
have to work. I hope it will not worry 
or tire you.” 

“Oh no; go on,” said: “I am always 
pleased to hear an intelligent man dis- 
cuss the labor question, or any other, 
and this land can afford to take a good 
long rest on the love now on hand, and 
there will not be much where the pot 
does not boil strong.” 

The Manager said he* agreed with 
me, and went on to say that he wias 
willing to admit that conditions were 
not overdrawn by some of these writers, 
that no good remedy had ever been 
offered, at least none which took the 
place of steady employment, indivlidual 
industry and economy. It is an easy 
matter to sit down in some comforta- 
ble room and reform the world in a 
book, but dealing with imaginary men 


and women. Captain, is one thing, and 
dealing with real men is quite another. 
There is nothing -like knowing your 
man. The history of political economy, 
said he, is ja history of wrecked schemes 
for the improvement of human condi- 
tions; and the establishment of human 
equality. All such attempts have been 
wretched failures. Every great social 
reformer the world has ever produced 
has. if he lived long enough, seen the 
downfall of all his noble plans. All of 
them, no doubt, would have worked 
admirably if men had been Angels. 
But, in spite of all that had been writ- 
ten and done^from Plato’s ideal repub- 
lic until this day, the world was still 
full of poverty, ignorance and crime; 
that the cause of all of this was plain 
to him, who would think a little for 
himself; that our own selfishness and 
greed is the main cause of the failure 
of every social scheme for most men 
are selfish. No class, rich or poor, is 
exempt; that every class has its share 
and is prone to seek for an advantage 
over men. How it could be overcome, 
if ever, he; was unaible'^to say positive- 
ly, but he thought we would have to 
have a new creation; before the hu- 
man family would materially change. 
He did not go far on the “Free Coin- 
age” of silver, a question, said he, that 
seemed likely to come to the front 
again in spite of all the progress the 
coutry had made in the past twenty 
years. He asserted that men’s heads 
were getting full of wheels and that 
I must not ibe frightened if I should 
hear some strange arguments from 
men who were walking the streets, 
day 'by day, and cheating the lunatic 
asylums; that men in political offices 
and men wanting office were constant- 
ly deceiving themselves and others; 
that long years of thought on the sub- 
ject had led him to believe that politi- 
cal changes, and of which some start- 
ling instances had taken place in the 
past twenty years, rarely ever brought 
what its friends predicted or what its 
foes feared; that the truth of the mat- 
ter is that there is nO' help like self- 
help; that best of all there is nothing 
utopian or dreamy 'about what I am 
going to tell you, about these ” Cotton 


12 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R, 


Mills” where you mow are; that what 
had been done in Vicksburg had been 
done before, and will be done again in 
many of the cities of this country. Sim- 
ply a uniting of capital and labor, 
which, he would always insist until the 
end of his days, were friends and not 
enemies. 

Continuing with the problem, he said 
that cheap money was like everything 
else cheap, it wais worthless, and the se- 
rious objections to the government buy- 
ing the railroads and telegraph lines', 
as hiad been proposed by some, was that 
it would bankrupt all the governments 
0 (f the world to buy them at what they 
were worth as investments; that in- 
deed ithere was a big one in this coun- 
try then approaching Vicksburg and 
making for New Orleans as its South- 
ern terminus, which he was sure could 
not be had at any price. (I let the op- 
portunity pass me to ask what line this 
was and did not leave until I had seen 
trouble enough to wring the stoutest 
hearts). The only way, said he, by 
which this could be done was to sell 
bonds and that would pile up a public 
debt fifty times greater than that left 
by the great civil war and would great- 
ly increase that class (the bondholders) 
against whom the poor and the dema- 
gogue clamored; that if many railroads 
did not pay the present owners, what 
reason is there to believe they would 
pay this government?* Many men ore 
disposed to lay their misfortunes at the 
door of any cause except the right one. 
not stopping to consider ciroumstanceSj 
infiuience, extravagant habits, individual 
intelligence or business capacity. The 
presence of rich men in the city or in 
the United States, said he, is in no way 
injurious but ihighly beneficial, for if 
the blind lead the blind both will fall 
in the ditch, why we would be in a 
most deplorable condition, and those in 
congress or out of it, bookwriters or 
otherwise, who were constantly inflam- 
ing the minds of the poor against the 
rich, or what they were pleased to term 
the money power, “Wall Street Kings,” 
and other hobgoblins, were doing their 
country no good and did not believe it 
themselves. It was simply so much 
wind and demagoguery. Everything 

*This remark is made in another part. 


that promises big returns for northing, 
or for no labor, is readily accepted by 
the poor, the ignorant or the lazy, and 
some time it is presented toi them by 
men who are misnamed intelligent men. 
That for this reason men gambled and 
speculated in futures, buying and sell- 
ing more' cotton and corn in one month 
than the world would make in ten years 
because, forsooth, the road to wealth 
seemed short. If men set out with 
wrong premises then the conclusion ar- 
rived at will also be wrong. This ap- 
plies to all kinds of positions. Captain 
said he, and is the main trouble with 
the free silver men and soft money 
cranks. They assume that the govern- 
ment can make money out of anything, 
which is entirely wrong. It is true the 
machinery of the government, the big 
wheels — 'Such as the President and the 
Secretary of the Treasury and Con- 
gress — ^could make money out of brass, 
make the dollar 412i/^ grains in weight, 
but they could not make the peopile 
take it. Even the Pop. would refuse 
these kind of dollars. But tO' go on 
with this problem. If the government 
is going to do everything for us, and 
we do nothing for ourselves, why not 
turn the land into a foundling hospital 
and be done with so much discussion. 
He asked this last question to< show, if 
possible, the folly of the whole bust- 
ness. It’s gotten common now to rush 
to Congress to he^lp everything. Every 
time a city wants to nave a show like 
Chicago and Atlanta they run to Con- 
gress to give them money. Who and 
what is the government any way 
but the peoples? Congress has aided 
many things that I do not disapprove 
of. One of them was a big railroiad. 

As the maniager proceeded with hlis 
subject the tone of Ms voice grew louder 
and stronger and his gestures convinc- 
ed me that he must have been at some 
time a public speaker. I cannoit now 
recall all he said, as I write from' mem- 
ory, but much he said I have thought 
myself. Just then Captain Carroll, the 
president of the mill, came in and call- 
ed his attention to the fact that he had 
gone off on a philosophical discourse on 
government and had not told me one 
thing about the mill; that as n'ight was 
coming on — ^Saturday night, and pay 
day at that— a very important day to 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


13 


the mill hands — he had best begin. 

My discourse, as you call it, Mr. Pres- 
ident, is only preliminary to what will 
follow, said the Manager, with a smile. 
Captain Glover will hear some stranger 
things than what I have said if he will, 
mains in this city, and I hope he will. 

I hope hie will, also, said the President. 
We need all the good men we can get. 

Now this was the Manager’s story 
word for word. As I was a good ste- 
nographer I took it down for fujture use 
— and this was my tirst deal in futures. 
There was one trouble with the Mana- 
ger which you have no doubt observed, 
that it was impossible for him to stick 
to his subject. 

Some years ago, said he, I received a 
letter from W. J. Rea, a buisiness man 
of this city. He had just returned from 
Europe, where he passed some years las 
Ambassador to the Court of St. Jamies, 
and he used a good deal of his time 
looking into the best methods to build 
a co-operative cotton mill. This, said 
the Manager, was far better than pass- 
ing his time sipping wine andi making 
fool speeches reflecting on his country. 
By the way. Captain, did you hear 
about the speech of the Ambassador, in 
London? It is possible. Colonel, said I, 
but it may have escaped my memory, 
there are so many of those things; re- 
call some part and perhaps I will re- 
member it. Well about six months 
after he was sent, there was a dinner 
given. He was expected to reply .to 
the toast “The United States of Amer- 
ica.” It was exp'efcted by the English 
that he would 'abuse the taxing laws >of 
his country and pat Royalty on the 
back. But he fooled them. He defend- 
ed the tariff laws of his country and 
he gave Royalty such a roasting that 
the ladies had hysterics and the men 
were paralyzed with fear. When he 
was through they all wanted to know 
where they were at. Yes, Colonel, said 
I,' I do recall that. The Prince of Wales 
did tell me something aibout a man from 
Mississippi givinig the royal family a 
turning over. He at the same time ad- 
mitted that he was like many others in 
the world, a creature of oir cum stances, 
and seriously he did not believe that 
he was made out of any better icllay 
than any other man and that the great 
distinctions between men was due to 


money, position and education. Right 
level headed man is this Albert Edward, 
the Prince of Wales, and the most poipu- 
lar man in England today, and if the 
country should go at any time during 
his life, to a peaceful repuJblic I do not 
believe there is a man in England that 
could defeat him for its first presiden- 
cy. 

Then you know the Prince, do you. 
Captain? 

Well I should say I dc. I waS' at one 
time associated with him in a railroad. 
He told me once while in London that 
he had never miade a shilling in his life 
and he would like to place siome mioney 
with me in a big railiroiad. I was there 
then to buy the Delhi, Bombay and 
Calcutta Railway. I took Mm in and 
what became of it will be told in 
another part. 

But, Colonel, said I, you have wan- 
dered from the matter. You was to tell 
me of the building of your cotton mill. 

I know in reason that the men from 
old Mississippi are not afraid tO' say 
what they think and they are good 
thinkers. I shall refer tio this matter 
again. I will go on with the Manager. 

Oh, yes. Captain ! I was going to say 
that he (Ambassador Rea) wrote me 
that they wished to build a mill tO' cost 
about $500,000, with a charter providing 
for two mdllions, $300,000 to be furnished 
by Vicksburg citizens. Before leaving 
the East I secured a promise of $200,000. 
New many people poorly informed, sup- 
pose that the people of the South have 
plenty of money and that they wiill not 
build faicitories to employ thie labor until 
they can make 50 c on ithe dollar. 
Never was there a greater mistake. 
They have little or no money, for those 
purposes as compared with the people 
of the North, and after a careful and 
close canvass I was not able to secure 
over $100,000, and was fearful that the 
enterprise would fail, as it had don'e 
many times before. The working peo- 
ple of most of the cities of the South 
have been fed on expiectations quite 
long enough and the questiont of the un- 
employed has been growing in every 
city in this Union for the past twenty 
years, so I gathered up a few facts as 
to w'hat it cost the city to punish mien 
and women for no reason in the wiorld 
• but that they were idle, for idle brains 


14 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


■and hartds are -the devil’s work'shoip. 
So I won't to th'o ciity council with' a 
proposition that they lend us their 
credit for twenty years in $100,000 wonth 
of bonds whlich I g'uaranifceed to work 
off at par. There were 'some men in 
the board who claimed to be related to 
Thomas Jefferson and who had friends 
that were running a busineisis misname'd 
courts of justice of the peace, the worst 
engines of oppression' that ever cuirsed 
a land, espeicially in 'the South among 
the poor negroes. And tho'se particu- 
lar solons opposed the city beiug a 
'Shareholder lin this mill, though we of- 
fered to allow her mayor and her city 
asse'ssor and one member of the coun- 
ci'l to be oni our board of dlirectors to 
take care of her interest. I told them 
that this amount, if never recovered, 
would be better used thau $500 tO' siomie 
man getting out a picture book that 
would do no one any -earthly good laud 
would employ neither one man nior O'ne 
dollar; that I considered it little less 
than a crime to be always imVitilng peo- 
ple into a city when there was nothing 
to do for those already there. Do you 
know. Captain, said he, that neiarly 
every city and town in the whole Unit- 
ed State's has been bamboozlied out of 
money enough in what thle'y call “write 
ups” to pay for a dozen mills like this 
one in which you sit? What are they 
but so many adjeotives showing that 
the fresh air and scenery of one town 
is better than that of some other city 
or town? When a city sends out la lot 
of trash like that her enterprising citi- 
zens sit back in their easy chairs and 
wonder what fool it will catch and they 
seem to expect the capital to flow in 
like water froim that fountain, said he, 
pointing to a beautiful fountain in the 
front lawn, 'and when it does not come 
we are told by these samie “wise men,’’ 
that we are not well adveirtisied and we 
send out more of the same old “cheist- 
nuts’’ about suplerior advantages, le^tc. 
All towns and cities are good Oines 
where the people can all find work to 
do, sufficient for a good living, and none 
of them are go'od where this is not the 
case. Thite applies to New York, St. 
Douis, Chicago, or any city in the 
world as well as Vicksburg, Miss., and 
Shreveport, Da. All that kind of thing 
Captain Glover, said the Manager, with 


some lemphasis, can be term'ed a first 
class book and newspaper fake and, sio 
far as working men are oonoerned, are 
not worth the paper on which they are 
printed, but are usually written in a 
“high-falutin’’ fashion that Would give 
a literary man like Washington Irving 
'the lock jaw. No one ever takes the 
time or tro'uble to read those ridiculous 
“write ups’’ except the people whofsle 
pictures may be therein and whose Van- 
ity has got the betiter of their judg- 
ments, and many merchants who have 
been bled to the tune of $50 have some 
trouble to get 'their country cuistomlers 
to carry them away, and in the quiet 
of their hom'es read what fine fellows 
■they are. What does a man doing well 
in New York <City care what kind -of a 
residence Mr. So and So lives in in a 
city in Mississippi? Do you think 'that 
will cause him to iS'ell out, and' move? 
If so, then you know very little of 'the 
moitives that prompt mien- to chanlgie 
their homes. To sum up all I have 
said. Captain, on this very important 
point, what does high building and high 
sounding phrases mean tO' the man' who 
is tramping the streets not knowing 
wliere he will get the next melal or 
where he will lay his head ? It is barely 
possible that 'all this may have a sooth- 
ing effect on -the imaginations -of the 
poor for a short while, for they are al- 
ways hopeful. But then the reactions 
which follow all kinds of disappoint- 
ments must be something terrible. We 
should not bank too much on capitial 
that is jus't ready to pour into our 
gates, but then we are ohly human. 
But I carried my point and strange to 
say 'the county j'oined with the city and 
we got the same 'amiount from them. 

Now I once read in a book that an 
old king Called all the -poor of the city 
to a certain place and had them all 
searched and with 'the money obtained 
from them', 'he built a fine bridge called 
the “beggar’s bridge.’’ Now I always 
believed that the working people would 
take a great interest 'in a business if 
they could in any way possess an in- 
terest, so I proposed to- the manage- 
ment that we ask our employees to be- 
come stockholders. Our shares are in 
denominations of $5 and upwards and 
no one can own over $20,000 of >the stock 
except the city. This gives all a 


15 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND 

chance and preveiiits monopoly of own- 
ership. The manag^emenit readily 
agreed to ithis proposition and when 
a man goes to work here he is asked 
if he wishes to become a stockholder, 
and ithe am o unit agreed upon is paid by 
the week, as in a building association; 
and would you believe it, nearly $200,- 
000 is to-day owned hy our operators. 
This mill has paid 10 per cent, ever 
since it was built and we pay our div- 
idends the 1st of January and the 
1st of July. We pay only on the cap- 
ital paid in. There is no watered stock 
o-r hondholders to rob others, you may 
be sure. Now we have over two 
thousand cottages. Tihe rent problem 
has been a hard one on the working- 
man in times past, so we rent our cot- 
tages at rentals ranging from $5 to $10. 
An employe owning as much as $1,000 
gets interest or profits sufficient to pay 
his house rent. The houses are some- 
times old to them on the installment 
plan. They are all of the Queen Anne 
style of architecture and we give prem- 
iums for thie prettiest display of flow- 
ers during the spring and summer. 
Prom the front of all these happy 
hiomes there hangs and sings the ca- 
nary and the mocking bird. NoKv, 
captain, said he, passing me a fresh ci- 
gar, the products of the mills of Au- 
gusta, Gra., Columbus, Ga., Dallas, 
Texas, and of the Wesson Cotton Mills 
of Mississippi, found ready sale twen- 
ty years ago all over this oounitry and 
the greater portion of ours goes to Eu- 
rope over the Oriental, and alsoi South 
and Central America via the Great 
Cape Horn Railroads. (These were 
new railroads to me, but I did not ask 
any questions but listened to what the 
manager had to say who had now be- 
come warmed up with his subject). And 
at the inaugural ball (Of President Wm 
McKinley in March last, said he, 
all the Conigressmen and Senators from 
Miississippi and Louisiana apeared in 
suits of doe skins' made at the Vicks- 
burg and Shreveport Cotton and Wool- 
en mills. At this remark, though strong 
of nerve, I fainted like a lady would 
have done before we had the “New 
Woman.” When I recovered he propos- 
ed to show me over his mill, which T 
examined from top to bottom, going 
in every department and chatting with 


TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 

the employes, many of whom no doubt 
thought I was going to buy it, or (was 
going to take the manager’s place, as 
he had been talking of taking a trip 
to Europe. If any of them were judges 
of human nature, they could not have 
failed to have seen that if I should be- 
come the manager of the miill they 
would not need a fifty foot Ashing pole 
to pass me an apple. Only a fool is 
spoiled by a good position. All of our 
great men have been noted for the sim- 
plicity of their 'manners. But, to con- 
tinue with my description of this great 
mill. There was a complete set of fine 
hose on each floor and it would have 
been almost impossible to burn the 
building, as a direct pressure of wa- 
ter was always turned on the mill. He 
then explained how they had overcome 
one big drawback to cotton mills in the 
South, viz, fuel. We buy, said he, all 
of our cotton in the seed, direct from 
the farmers and have a big ginnery in 
connection with the mill. We sell our 
cotton seed to the oil mills, of which 
this city has ten, and our engine rooms 
are connected with them by an under- 
ground system of pipes, and all the 
waste hulls and oils unfit for sale are 
piped to us, and we burn them for fuel, 
thus bringing that expense to a min- 
imum, or as low as any of the mills in 
the east, because they are often at a 
great expense for dams. We also save 
freight and we are able to meet the 
prices of any any mill in the United 
States or Europe for the same grade of 
goods. As the mill was running I had 
the pleasure of witnessing ithe firemen 
turn the oil and hulls into the big 
blaze under the boiler. There were two 
large engines of 500 horse power and 
these were as bright as polished miir- 
rows. There was a Brussels carpet on 
the fl'oor of the engine room and sev- 
eral fine pictures hung upon the walls. 


CHAPTER III. 

When I returned to the office Captain 
Carroll asked me what I thought of 
the plant. I replied to him I had seen 
nearly all the great things of the world, 
but that his mill was the best of the 
kind I had ever seen ; that the manager 
had told mie he was pirepiared to make 


16 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


a man a nice isnit in from three to four 
hours. This included the -weaving o.f 
the cloth. That is true, captain, said 
the president; all kinds of machinery 
has in this twentieth century been 
brought to such a state of perfection 
that this: is done alm-oist every day. 
We are expecting some merchamts here 
from South uAjmerica this evening, and 
I will have their orders itake-n and we 
are going to have a little meeting here 
tomight and they will be requested to 
appear in them; you will see it. That 
is good, captain, said I. But what I 
was going to say was the results of 
which I was thinking -nqost, was the 
fact of its being the means o-f putting 
so imiany men anid women in a way to 
earn a living and to become useful and 
happy citizens,; that man was a kind 
of animal— yoiu had to keep him at work 
to get the best results to society. 
While moist all the men wanted po- 
litical jobs, some one -had to- hew the 
wood and draw the water; that in Eu- 
rope men were born rulers. 

I was not yet satisfied whether the 
city was able to support the big 
scheme I had to launch, or as to 
whether I would have to- go to New 
Orleans with it, and I wanted to know 
if there were any new lindustries in this 
twentieth century; that the making of 
cotton goods was an old industry in all 
cities of the South except in such cities 
as Monroe, La., and Shreveport in the 
same State; tha^t I was pleased to' learn 
that they now have fine ones, all built 
while I was absent from America. He 
replied that on the site where many 
years ago istood the old Prentiss Hotel, 
famed all over this country, there was 
now located a large mill where paper 
wais made from cotton stalks; that its 
erection had been the mean's of util- 
izing -every part of the cotton plant. 
The manager of this big mill is Captain 
Ed. M. Pischel, said he, and a visit 
there would no doubt be pleasant and 
interesting to yon. He said that 
Vicksburg had three large breweries, 
the piroperty of Hossley, Hibou & Co., 
several large foundries and car works, 
box and barrel factories; a match fac- 
tory 'located near the city; fine grist 
mills, with capacity of 700 barrels per 
diem, ten oil mills, furniture factories 
and fertilizer works, and a United 


States navy yard; that the city had 
three large Opera Houses, with seat- 
ing capacity of four thousand each; 
that there were gooid plays all the year, 
that there was a machine which kept 
the houses cool and delightfully pleas- 
ant all the summer with admission 
ranging from 10 cents to 25 cents; 
that in the park where first we met, a 
fine band played on summer evenings; 
that the people enjoyed themselves 
and the expense was paid' by public 
subscription, and there were many 
other manufactories not mentioned, 
and in all of these over ten thousand 
people were employed daily at good 
wages. Nothing done here by the 
city, said the manager, should 
be so construed by me; that the 
community had never in the least 
way adopted 'the views of the “So- 
cialists” (or the “Farmers’ Alliance” or 
the “Populists Party.” Here he said 
something lalbout the Ureat Cape Horn 
Railroad, and the disputed territory in 
Venezuela, and the Populites going 
there, but I did not understand him, 
but heard all about it many months af- 
ter this. This I do remember. He said 
it was the followiing of a precendent 
that had been established many 
years ago and wls found to be mach 
less expensive than jails and work 
houses. It was from the list of the un- 
employed that the 'anarchists, the so- 
cialists and all others who would de- 
stroy society came; that the well fed 
and well housed were more or less dis- 
posed to take a rosy and strong view 
of life and property; that people could 
not be fed or paid wages on the news- 
paper rhetoric touching the natural 
advantages of the city and the busi- 
ness she ought to do; 'that there must 
be something practicable and with the 
proper efforts made the mioney was 
forthcoming. I expressed my surprise 
at the citys being so largely interested 
in this and other things, notably among 
them a railway up to Canton, Miss., 
called the Vicksburg & Canton, con- 
necting with the great Illinois Central 
at (that point; ithat I had been told by 
the general manager, W. Lee H'arri- 
'Son, whom I had the pleasure of meet- 
ing, that the city was interested to 
the amount of a million dollars; that 
she had her mayor and two of her 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


17 


councilmen on the hoaird of directors, 
and. was learning how to treat the 
railroads with some conisideration, and 
was also learning a little of what it 
cost to run one; tht the road was built 
over ten years ago, iby M. O. Gorman, 
the great contractor, who had con- 
structed the biggest railroad in the 
world. But he did not say what road 
it was. I replied that his inifoirmation 
was quite a pleasant surprise to me; 
that before I had left this country 
Mississippi had been doing some legis- 
lative work that might ibe called 
double-rivited and copper-lined in the 
matter of election laws,^ and that even 
then there was a fear and a mistrust 
of men who would be elected under 
this wonderful suiperstructure called 
the “Constitution of Mississippi.” 

Captain you will be astonished to 
know that all that law on the subjiect 
of eltectionis has been thrown in the fire 
figuratively speaking. It cost $150,000. 
but then this is a government of the 
people aU'd what they do not want 
will have to go, it matters not what it 
cost. I would like to tell you here what 
the law is and "what we have, but I 
have sent for a friend, he is a member 
of Congress and he will tell you all 
about it. 

Well, Colonel, said I, as you will with- 
hold the much desiired information I 
will not press the matter and will say 
I am pleased to know that all this tom- 
foolery has now passed away. I w^ould 
always prefer the intelligent count to 
the intelligent vote. It. is also a mat- 
ter of surpriste to^ me to know that there 
are three big breweries in the State' of 
Mississippi. It always appeared tO' me 
that if the people would have these 
things they shonld be permitted to 
manufacture them. Wings do not grow 
out on men, it matters not how goody- 
goody the laws may read. Intersttate 
commerce cannot be prevented by a leg- 
islature. In fact laws have been pass- 
ed in many States in reference to dram 
shops and dram drinking that would 
rival the old blue laws of Conneoticut. 
I have some doubt in my mind abont 
changing the minds of mien or the mor- 
als of men by a simple bill in the State 
legislatures or in th'e National congress, 
and So I argued with the manager. He 
replied that the fahatlcal laws in many 
2 


States had been repealed many years 
ago, that people drank beer if they 
wanted it, and some of them fed their 
babies on it; that 'Sensible peiople had 
long since come to the conclusion that 
all such laws were like a man in armor 
— sadly out of date; that governmient 
was best v^hich governed the least; that 
it was no part of the duty of the gov- 
ernment to make a man rich moral or 
religious or to protect the fool from the 
consequences of his own folly. We are 
our brothers keeper only in theory, not 
in fact. He said that he did not like 
the business himself and did not think 
he was, adapted tb it, buit that he be- 
lieved in the largest use of liberty in 
thought and aotion, holding a man ire- 
sponsible only for the abuse of those 
heaven born rights; that he was not in 
favor of proscribing what a man should 
eat or drink, or what hie shiouXd be- 
lieve. There are very many people 
who do not know much can be cured by 
law. Some say and write that we 
would be better with no law. With this 
idea, said the manager, I do not agree, 
but I believe our system could stand a 
good deal of filtering and be very much 
improved thereby. I agree with you 
Colonel, said I, that society could not 
exist without laws tO' educate men to do 
what is 'tight with each other and tO' ab- 
stain from what is wrong, or to compel 
them to do so. But many of our best 
thinkers are of the opinion that the 
time has come in the history of the 
United States and in Europe, as it did 
in the time of Justinian, the Roman 
Emperor and law-giveir, when our laws 
scattered through many thousand vol- 
umes could be boiled down to three or 
five books and that it should be taught 
in all of our public schools. I have had 
some personal experience in what I 
speak of. When I was in India there 
was laid a cold blooded scheme tO’ rob 
me under the form lOf law of my rail- 
road. In England it takeis from twenty 
to thirty ye'ars to dispose of a case if 
it involves a large sum, and nothing 
kept me from being reduced to the con- 
dition of the hobo tramp but a good 
Smith & Wesson. I have never men- 
tioned the matter before, but I believe 
it was one of the things that kept Eng- 
land from going to war with 'this coun- 
try. There can be no doubt but thlS; 


18 


% 

THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R, 


with Ambassadoir Rea’s speech, wihloh 
must have occurred a short time before, 
from the date you gave me, stopped the 
war. Others may mot think so butt I 
know. The English are the greatest 
bluffers in the world and will noit fight 
any people but wieak o:nes. Her great 
territory itoday is due tO' bulldozing peo^ 
pie that were unable to protect them' 
selves. I told the Pirince of Wales that 
his brother-in-law, Prtince Henry of 
Battenburg, would hlave been living toi- 
day if he had let ther African kiinig 
alone, that his mother would do well to 
profit by the lesson of the United Stateis 
— ^that the African race hlad caused her 
more touble than had all the other 
kinds of people combined. I alsP ad- 
ded that his country remtinded mip mioire 
of Miahomet and his successor than any 
other thing in history. He said “take 
my religion or die,” and England sayis 
about the sarnie thing. But tO' change 
the subject, Oolonel, said I, let me here 
say, not knowing what your friend the 
congressman may have tO' say about the 
repeal of obnoxious election laws made 
to perpetuate one parity and one man 
in power, I will put myself on' record. 
I believe every man in a free republic 
should be allowed to have one vote and 
have that vote honestly counted. The 
dangers of 'universal suffrage are not 
half so bad as some would have us be- 
lieve, the greta Mississippi Seniator 
who is wilHing to go to glory las thle 
Father of Mississippi eldtion law to the 
contrary no twi thstanding. * 

Speaking more oni the subject of gov- 
ernment, Oolonel, said I, which I hoped 
I have given some thought, they can- 
not be perfect. Men are not angels, as 
you have said, or perfeotion. Then his 
government or anything that he rules 
cannot be so. There is too much of a 
disposition in some laws made by these 
would-be patriots to exclude many of 
our fallow mien from participation' iln 
■Saying who shall rule over them. But 
when the stars and stripeis are to be 
kept flying in the heavens these readers 
of Greek and Batin, and these chang- 
ers of money, and these formiers of 
syndicates ito supply Uncle 'Sam with 
gold at one door which they draw out 
at the other, can always find a way to 
stay at home and get a substitute. 


But, Captain, said the manager, do 
you not know that under a system 
such as you propose we wiould be over- 
run with a lot of bad men, in power? 

No, sir. I do not understand that 
any such thing would take place. Your 
cry of wolf will not deceive even your- 
self. I deem it alm'ost impossible for 
any number of bad men, as you call 
them, to be elected to office in this 
country. It could not be that all men 
whO' do not agree with you are bad men. 
The press now makes it difficult for lany 
real corrupt man to climb to power 
and remain there long. I beg to in- 
form you that some of the best Presi- 
dents this country ever had were elected 
under a law of universal sufferage, 
notably General Grant and James A. 
Garfield, and there was one thing 
about their adminlistrat'ions^ — ^they were 
not trying to sell bonds every day in 
the week to pay expenses, although 
they say 'the whisky wa's crooked. But 
as you say your friend has somethiing 
new to tell me on this subject, all I 
say may soon be regarded as sO' much 
“ ancient history,” and I will not longer 
discuss the matter. The injustice anid 
the baldfaced hypocrisy 'attempted to 
be conoealed behind all this bosh, 
make an honest man sick at heart and 
I am not alone in 'this opinion. 

But Col. Bancroft, isaid I, to close ; 
the good men of every city are always 
in the majority ; let them, turn out and 
vote and do their duty on the jury and 
they, nor their children wiill never have 
cause to blush that they were a lot of 
moral cowards. Be a man always, 
have an apinion and dare to express it. 
For in th,is greatest country on the 
glO'be you are a free man. 

Well, Captain, said the manager, 
you must not gelt hot with me. 

Oh! no! said I. You told me you 
were from the North where, if they 
did make wooden nutmegs, they always 
had fhir elections, and if there is any 
improvements in the South in this first 
quarter of the twentieth cenitury on 
what was the law when last I saw Mis- 
sissippi I shall be pleased to hear of 
them. Twenty years ago the buzzards 
would not stir out in Bouisiana and 
Mississippi for some, days after an 
election; at least that’s what Governor 


t 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


19 


Boo'th and Captain Pharr, the populite 
candidates said abont 'the Demioicrats. 
They should know. 

Captain, said the manager, you said 
something a few moments ago about 
some trouble with “London Bankers,” 
about trying 'to rdb you of your rail- 
road, what were the circumsitances, 
tell me abont it? 

I should like to do sio, colonel, said I, 
but it was only a personal matter 'and 
has no bearing upon the things we now 
ha vie under ooneideration. These 
things will affect men lo'ng after we 
are gone and forgotten. (But at the 
proper time I will tell the reader about 
it.) But to be truithful with you, col- 
onel, I never like to see a man always 
the hero of his own story. Actors and 
authors have to advertise the mis elves, 
but at present I am only a private cit- 
izen and see no re'ason why I should 
miss a meal or not sleep good at night 
because my oipinionis on money and 
railroads is not asked by the reporter 
in liis daily rounds. I expect to remain 
for some time in this country 'and I 
may try to get in the caibinet. It’s the 
only thing I would have at p'resent, 
said I, with a ismile. 

But, captain, I suppose you were af- 
terwards gratified that you did not kill 
them, and how many of them were 
there ? 

Oh, yes, I was pleased that the thing 
ended without my having to leave any 
“private grave yard” in that country. 
All I wanted was my money. There 
were twenty of them. I have no desire 
to' do my fellow -man any harm unless 
I have tO'. I do not hate the human 
race. 

And you mean to tell me, captain, 
one man from Mississippii m'ade twenty 
Englishmen go in their hole, and all 
rich men at that. 

Yes, sir! That’s the way it was. I 
do not believe thait there are any men 
in ithe world who fear death more than 
a rich Englishman, or rich Amerioan. 
He is also' crediited with saying that the 
hell that he most feared was that of 
poverty. Many have told me this, and 
they were not joking. I suppose that 
is why they consider a public debt 
which now belongs to a few well-to-do, 
a public blessing. The Prince of 
Wales tried to contend as much with 


me, but I told him very plainly that it 
was to my mind as having the people 
pay interest 'On the ropes that hung 
their great grandfathers, and the fag- 
ots that burned their grandmothers. 
He then 'surprised me by telliing me 
that he believed (the United States 
would tsoon owe as big a debt as Eng- 
land. But as I allude to thisi and the 
power of money in England as com- 
pared with this country, and as to 'the 
dangers of a monstrous public debt, 
which eats day and night, through 
sunshine and stormis, through prosper- 
ity and adversity, until at last it brings 
'down its victims, be they nations or 
inidividuals, is well understood by all 
thinking men. I was going to change 
the subject, but he asked me this ques- 
tion : 

Why, captain, the old saw, ‘“once 
an Englishman always an Englishman” 
and I hope you are not prejudiced 
against England, because she is a 
“gold standard” country? From your 
own statement you seemed to have 
done well there. 

No, said I, I am not prejudiced 
against any people. There is no better 
man and no better citizen than the in- 
dividual Englishman. But the ruling 
classes are the most domineering on 
earth. But once an Englishman al- 
ways so can only be said to apply to 
those who are born on the island; 
there are many in 'Our country to-day 
who come from the queen’s 'do'minions, 
and there are no more loyal and pa- 
trioitic Americans than they are. I 1- 
lude to our Irish fellow citizens, and 
many from Canada. Yes, I did make 
a good deal of money in India. But 
rich men do well everywhere if they 
are careful in 'their investments and do 
not buy too many white elephants. 
Money always, makes money every- 
where in this land and in all others. 
But, colonel, siaid I, there is always a 
cause foir everything. The English 
prime miinister, or as we call him, the 
secretary of .State, is never too busy 
drinking wine and toadying to other 
peoples’ government, for the English- 
m'an never toadies to anyone, to hear 
the cry .of England’s isubjeots in any 
quarter of the world. She will send a 
ship at any expense to hear his little 
tale of woe; it matters not what may 


20 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


be (his creed or color, so be is a Brtit- 
lish subject; rthiat is all that is neces- 
sary. They have not run a giovernment 
since the time of William the Roibber 
for nothing". She knows that the du- 
rability of all governments rest with 
the great middle class who make the 
wealth of all countries and who fight 
the battles of all nationis, and who 
move on the railroads, the steamboats 
and steamships the products of all na- 
tions. She never lets opportunity 
pass to pat them on the back and put 
them' in a good humor and keep them 
so. It is a crockadile kind of busi- 
ness, but it pays. When she sends a 
ship away to look after some fellow 
worth 25 cents she feels the old tub will 
last ten years longer. This protection 
given is all right, and the people who 
make the money pay the gentlemen 
fine salaries; and for these men of war 
are entitled to all they get. But any 
man with good common sense' who be- 
lieves in the divine rights of kings and 
queens, or in royal blood, has got a 
Ferris wheel in his head and any 
American woman who thinks a duke 
iSi as good as some honest man of her 
own country, has got wheels — wheels 
in her head. 

Captain, said the manager, looking 
somewhat surprised at my language, 
did' you talk that way when you lived 
in England? 

As the Yankee would say, said I, I 
reckon I did. I told the Prince of 
Wales not once but a hundred times 
that his governmenit was nothing but 
a professional filibuster, and if they 
ever tackled “Uncle Sam” again they 
would rue the day, and the sun would 
set again on the dominions of England. 
He tried to run a bluff on me one day. 
When I became a rich man I was on 
the most intimate terms wiith the roy- 
al family. A man with two thousand 
miles of railroad in his own right in 
old England can get into the company 
of their best. I tell you money counts 
in England and I am tempted to be- 
lieve that it the only god that many 
worship. I learn that it is beginning 
to have its infiuence in this contry. I 
wonder how people would treat me if I 
should by any means become a poor 
man again? 

Yes, captain, that is too true. Money 


has too much power, but I can see no 
way to remedy the matter. What I 
suppose was given to man that he 
might aid himself and others has got 
to be mistaken for brains. The opin- 
ion of a man now with a few thousand 
has a market value, while the same man 
poor, with the same opinion, is called 
an egotist or a fool. 

But, colonel, said I, let us not dis- 
cuss life, which is always full of dis- 
agreeable facts, but let us rather de- 
lude ourselves that the mean people 
in this world will surely come to grief 
as they do in all well written books 
and dramas. 

But, Captain Glover, said the man- 
ager, you do noit think that money — 
gold — is the key to all the happiness in 
the world. 

No, gold is not everything, said I. 
Honor and character count for some- 
thing yet. But money, like charity, 
covers a multitude of things' and un- 
locks a big door to success in life and 
often makes the road short and easy. 
If you have money you are often itimes 
imposed upon, and if you have none — 
always. The writer often thinks of 
the, old saying that if health was a 
thing that gold could buy, then the 
rich they would live always and the 
poor they would idie. But God in his 
mercy and wisdom has ordained it so 
that the rich and the poor together 
must go. 

For a man to-day in rich array. 

To-morrow may be turning to clay. . 


CHAPTER IV. 

Just at this point of the conversation 
of the Manager and myself. President 
Carroll walked in again, having finished 
his letters to the Emperor of China. 
This was a very important document. 
The President not only took a great 
interest in his mill and all things that 
appertained to the welfare of his city, 
but ke kept up with the general senti- 
ment in his country, as will- be shown 
in his reply. In the business part he 
informed the Emperor that the goods 
for him would be ready in the early 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AN]) TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


21 


fail and would go to his country via 
“The Great Oi’iental Railway." But 
there was some politics in this letter 
also, which concerned the whole coun- 
try. The Bmperor had said to the 
President he had heard that the United 
States was going to be a free silver 
country, that he had iread it in the 
“Progressive Age” of Ruston, Da., and 
in the Monroe, JUa., “Bulletin,” and he 
would like to know if there could be 
found a sentiment in this country in 
favor of annexing China. That he had 
a big war debt to pay to Japan in sil- 
ver and would like to unite with some 
country to help him out. President 
Carroll told him in this letter that this 
government was in favor of paying its 
debts,' public and private, in the best 
money of the world er that which the 
leading nations now considered the best 
gold. But he could coirrespond with 
some of the free silver Senators who 
now had plenty to sell at most any 
price. He also had some railroad 
friends who were now suffering for or 
with a surplus, I did not understand 
which, he said, as he was reading his 
letter to the Manager and not to my- 
self. He said, a;iso, he did not think 
the people of the “United States” would 
favor taking in his country as terri- 
tory, for they would in time have to be 
admitted as States of the Union. This 
shows that the President, Oapt. E. C. 
Carroll, knows what his country wants, 
and what they ido not need or want. 
We like to have his business and did 
not object to being joined with them 
with a railway and expected we would 
be by September, this being May. 
President Col. Coppage had said the 
Great Oriental Ralway now taps the 
Trans-iSiberian Railroad at Moscow,, 
and had done so for some years. New 
this was read in my hearing; it did not 
occur to me what was going on about 
me, and how 'much effect this informa- 
tion would have on my future life, and 
in fact I soon forgot all about it, foir 
I had a scheme of my own, and when 
I heard of this matter again it never 
occurred to me that I had heard Presi- 
dent Carroll read his letter to the Em- 

per or. If a man couild always remem- 


ber all he hears and all he reads he 
would be all right. Then they both 
turned to me, as they regarded me as 
an authority on all things, and asked 
me what effect I thought the China- 
men would have on the political com- 
plexion of the United States, as there 
was about five hundred millions of 
them. President Carroll said he fear- 
ed it would largely increase the pur- 
chasable vote; that he was a Democrat 
hlimself and the party had got pure 
now, as lit had been out power a long 
time. All the giood parties are always 
the ones out of office. I suppose this 
is well known. I replied that if many 
of them' should become citizeniS of the 
South and want fo vote Ithe Republican 
ticket, the Democrats would be put to 
the test to iOVercome a majority of two 
or three millionis. Of course I did not 
know what had taken place in this 
country in (the matter of elections, ahd 
made a display of my ignorance, as 
you w!ill see from information received 
from another character, and also from 
the manager. But I kept on with my 
point by saying that .the CIMnaman was 
down as a cheap man, but if he 'Oharged 
for his vote in proportion ito his wash- 
ing, I did not think it would pay the 
Demlocrats or the Republican party to 
fool with 'Mm, or they would go broke 
on him sure. That the Peoples Party 
might fix the thing, as they were the 
only party who could make money to 
pay him out of nothing, or old rags. I 
here had a good oppiortunity to declare 
my faith ih one or the other of the 
two great political parties in 'this coun- 
try — ^for there are only two; all others 
are only dreams and side issues, but 
I refrained from doing so just then, for 
I was a stranger in a manner in the 
country, having been gone, as I have 
told you for twenty years. The mana- 
ger was a Republican, as you wiill see 
and Captain Carroll, the piresident of 
this cotton mill, is a life long Demo- 
crat, and both my friends. 

Having satisfieid ourselves (that the 
United States did not want any more 
Chinamen than they had at present, 
our conversation took a wide range. I 
do not suppose for a moment they 
thought I was in darkness about many 
tMngs which you will see (that I was not 


22 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


iinif'ormed on. I was well dressed, seem' 
ed to 'have pl'enity of money, was 'boaird- 
•ing at 'the besit hotell in the oity, the 
newspapers of I/ondon had meintioned 
my depart ure lahd the' “New Orleans 
Picayune’V had my picture lalnd spoke 
of my “fleet 'Of ships,” and I was a 
smooth talker. Whalt I did not know I 
pretended to know, and they were only 
men. T'hey supposed I knew mtore than 
I did— that is all. One thing they were 
sure of — I had come to a gooid city when 
I came to Vicksburg and lamong good 
people when in the South. Reiader do 
no(t be deceived; “all is not gold that 
glitters,” or diamonds that sparkle. 

Now there is ano'ther question which 
has given the Soutihern people a goiod 
deal of trouble and which !hias been the 
cause of a good deal of sentimental 
gush on the part of those whO' do not 
kniow anything of this matter, and that 
is the negro or “race question.” As I 
saw a good many of them abouit his 
mill, as they are all over the South, in 
every oity and town, I asked him how 
the colored people had progressed in the 
last twenty years; and if there were 
many of them in this citiy; that I had 
observed a good many of his mill hands 
were of that race; that many years ago 
men who would not and did not work 
seemed to think this race were in their 
way and were in favor of carting them 
off to Africa or Mexico; that so far as 
I was personally concerned, no people 
were in my way. I could learn all I 
had brains to carry and make aill the 
money circumstances W(Ould admit of. 
and I was not pirejudiced unreasonably 
against even the Chinamen; that I had 
met miany men whom I considered very 
unjust against Irish and our Isrealite 
fellow Citizens; (that iit was a very easy 
matter to write books, pick out the 
worse characters of a race or national- 
ity and brand all others as like them. 
My opiniion was that no race had all the 
virtues nor all the vices of the human 
family. I should be pleased to hear 
him at any length (on this questioin. 

He replied (that he would not touch 
on the Irish or Hebrew matter at all, 
but confine himself to the negro, and 
that they had not failed to profit by 
general prosperity; that they were a 
part of the people and miade the best 
of laborers; that they were not given 


to strikes and were usually cheerful 
and happy. No book on the South' — 
its past, present or its future — could be 
complete where this element of our pop- 
ulation is left out; that ithe vexed race 
problem had really proved to be no 
P'i*oblem at all; that 'the negroes had 
good schools all over the South and 
many fine in'du'Strial schools where they 
were fast becoming equipped for the 
race of life and wCalth; that many of 
their colleges sent out good farmers — 
wiho never becaine “Pops.” — ^carpenters, 
shoemakers, iron workers, doctors, law- 
yers and writers and in fact experts for 
all trades; that ovbr itih'e South they 
were engaged in assisting itheir people 
to climb up the stee'p and rugged road 
to wealth, moirality and prospieirity. 
which all races at some time in itheir 
history (have been forced ‘to do — for 
said h e : 

“Tis througih rough paths. 

To gain a glorious name, 

Men climb thie steep ascent 
Which leads to fame. 

They miss the road 
Who quit the rugged way 
And in the smoother paths of pleasure 
stray.” 

When my poetlical friend had gotten 
this off I thought he was done with the 
problem an'd wias going to dismis's an 
important question with so few words, 
but he continued by saying tihat the col- 
ored people were the most docile and 
cheerful workers to be found in any 
land today. W'e must not expect too 
much where the conditions have been 
so unfavoraible, Captain, said (he. It 
may be news to many, said he, to know 
that they pay taxes today on eighteen 
millions worth of 'real property in the 
State of Louisiana and fifteen millions 
in Mississippi, and thils is the (Strongest 
rebuke the Populite can have who 
claims that no one had been able to 
make or save any gold money — for all 
of this property would bring gold. Yet 
he says nothing has been done in the 
past twfenty years. The exodus of the 
negro race may 'take place, for all 
things are poissiblie, but some other 
kind of peasantry must take itheir 
place, for we cannot all hold office un- 
der the governmient lor be general man- 
agers of cotton m'ills and railways; and 
it is my honest judgment that whoever 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


23 


takes their -places, their pay amd their 
standards of liviing-, wilil inot do so wieill 
as they have. Hifty and ninety cents 
a day, and even less than this, never 
has and never will produice a people of 
hig^h intelleoutal and moral character. 
It is not possible; that for their pres- 
ence here In this country they were In 
no way to bllame. Since it was the greed 
and love of gain of our ancestors — 'white 
men and their desite to oppress, — w^hieh 
seemis co -eq ual w ith man and Ihis go ve r n,- 
ments. And say what we would, that 
we of the South ihave a kindly feeling 
for the good colored people and that 
they have the same foir uis, when we 
treat them p-roperly. I saw enough 
during the great civil war in the United 
States, 'said he, to satisfy me that they 
had no desire to kill, rotb or export their 
white friendis', and ithe best amiong them 
are still of this dlispoiSition. I ihave 
talked a good deal with ithe miost intel- 
ligent of this race, sudh as the Biisihops 
and the leading ministers, ito learn what, 
are their hopes for the future, and I 
have yet to hear one -of them ever 
abuse or speak ill of the Southern peo- 
ple because they once owned 'them. 
There is little or no revenge dm the ne- 
gro’s character, and I believe he appre- 
oiates good wishes from a white fiiiend 
if that is all 'he can do for ihim:. I have 
advanced these opinions, Claptain, said 
he, at some length, because I have 
given the matter some .thought, for the 
reason that the negro question is a 
problem nearly always before the peo- 
ple. I am no office-'seeker and have no 
ax to grind by this admiinisit ration. But 
many men in the Souith have obtained 
ofRoe for no ireasoni in thie world but be- 
cause of their ability to shout “nigger 
in the wood-pile’’ to a lot of mien who 
had no more sense than a walking cane. 
Which will always go where its owner 
wishes, having no choice ilni the matter. 
I have been sustained in these views 
by the late Rev. -Ohas. K. Marshall, one 
of the most' noted and eloquent divines 
who ever lived in the South, by Bishop 
Chas. B. Gralloway, of Jackson, Miss., 
and a wonderful writer and thinker, 
by Bishop John H. Vinson, of New 
York^ by all 'Of the distinguished heads 
of the M. Ei. Church and many churches 
and by many other men of brains, both 
living and dead. By isomie I may be 


regarded as -a crank and a man of 
strange ideas, and some very extreme ^ 
men may consider me a dangerous * 
member of society. I never have as 
yet, said the manager, catered to the 
popular prejudices of my time, and for 
that reason I am not today the govern- 
or of my State. What I say here is, 1 
hope, to an intelligent man. I never 
•waste my breath or my ink -on fools if 
I know lit. 

When he had finished what he had 
to say on this question, which has 
given the people of the South a world 
of trouble and ankiety and which has 
been the subject of much discussion 
and legisilation ever since the war clos- 
ed in 1865, I replied that I agreed with 
him and he could take refuge behind 
the old maxim that “one man with truth 
and justice as his weapons would put 
ten thousand to flight,” less well equip- 
ped and that men often got ahead of 
the times in their thoughts, and that 
the fools of one generation became the 
heroes of the next. 

Capt. Glover, said Manager, I am 
no- special champion of the colored race ; 
they would need a stronger pen than I 
could wield to overcom-e the prejudices 
of ages, and the misfortunes of pover- 
ty and slavery, even were I to attempt 
it. I run a little to the literary at 
times, and write out my thoughts for 
the iSt. LfOuis Republic and the New 
York World, two great (newspapers of 
this country. I am no church member, 
or professor of any creed, but I am 
not against them. iSooiety could not 
exist without law, as I have said be- 
fore, and some kind of religio-us sys- 
tem. We are not all Ingersolls and do 
not have the well balanced brain of 
this distinguished Colonel — that makes 
him tower above many of his fellow- 
men, like Saul did among his brethrenr-. 
but my sympathies are always with 
the bottom dog in every fight. Every 
man, so said, riaes a hobby horse. And 
I have a most supreme contempt for 
men who prate of their Christianity 
and shed copious tears over the im- 
aginary wrongs of those who have 
been dead for thousands of years, 
while they use their pens and voices to 
heap red hot coals of fire on the heads 


24 


TRE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


of a weak and deifonise'Iess people. TMs 
is all I care to say on this matter at 
present, Captain. If I can do no more 
I can, at least, wish all men well, and 
I dio. I know I should not care to leave 
Heaven should I ever reach there, were 
I to find Jews and Chinamen or negroes 
there. A man who passes his time in 
abusing negroes because they are 
black, Chinamen because their eyes are 
almoned shaped, and Jews because they 
have a ibig nose, (they dO’ not poke in 
other people’s business) and rich men 
because they have money, lis doing 
what is beneath a wise man’s business. 

But Captain, said the Manager, pass- 
ing me a fresh cigar, while I gazed at 
my beautiful surroundings land thought 
what a fortunate thing it is foir a man 
to have a position and money so that 
he can always say what he thinks, (we 
were both in that condition just at that 
time, but I think I had the most mon- 
ey of the two.) -Well Colonel, said I, 
we have, I fear, got into deep water, 
and wandering from questions under 
consideration and the real object of 
my visit here today — that was to learn 
of this Cotton Mill. But I hope the 
Other has proved interesting to the 
reader. In the main, isaid I, I agree 
with you. Man with a civil right, or 
a right to liberty, ds one thing and 
as a social being Is quite another. 
There are a great many of my own 
people with whom I do not and will 
not associate with; some because they 
do not want me, and others because 
I do not want them. These matters 
cannot be fixed by law, and it is worse 
than folly to attempt it. My knowl- 
edge of ethnology would lead me to 
believe that all mankind have a com- 
mon origin. There are no courts to try 
the question and render final judgment 
as to who Grod made first and loves 
best. It appears to me that all men 
are amenable to the laws of nature. 
RememJber, “Great Caesar, thou art a 
man,” was the warning that went un- 
heeded. Effects follow cause, as night 
does day, and our prejudicies in many 
things ds often due to our education 
on the matter. We are taught that the 
Jews put the son of God to death, 
hence the prejudice. I do not know 


that my opinion. Colonel, said I, will 
have the effect of changing any one, 
but then I do mot care. I am not the 
passenger agent of any “Hot Country,” 
where men are sent who do not agree 
with me. Just at present those who 
ask my opinion on any subject will 
get it. But to conclude, there should 
be no room for prejudice in the mind 
of a truly intelligent and well read 
man on any thing. Now how much 
wine the Ambassador drank and what 
kind 'Of fool speeches they made in 
England, and who paid for this great 
protection we got from them being 
over there. As to whether negroes 
thought they were as good as white 
folks, and Chinamen thought they were 
•as goovi as negroes, and ought to be 
permitted to stay in the United States. 
What; socieity^ thought of "the M'ar- 
borough and Vanderbilt wedding, and 
if it was really a love match, and what 
the world will look like 10,000 years 
hence, when all races would mix freely 
and sociaiiiy, never troubled me much, 
although I had undertaken to discuss 
them with the Manager. That time 
will, in all probability, never come 
when we find caste and social distinc- 
tioins even among naked savages. We 
must not be surprised that they exist 
among highly civilized people. 
laughed a little when we thought of 
what “Charles Darwin” had said, and 
when I see a fellow with his head so 
high I cannot but think he is playing 
the monkey’s part, even if he be no 
blood relation. But my business in re- 
turning to the United States was not 
toi tear down social walls or cob webs 
that society had made. For I insist 
that with a good character you can al- 
ways, lif you wish, enter the best the 
country has, provided you are equip- 
ped with the proviso— ^money. I was 
not in Vicksburg in this first quarter 
of this twentieth century to right the 
wrongs of the colored man or the woes 
of the Chinaman, and did not think the 
Jews were going to own the country, 
body ana boots, and did not care if 
they (did. I had a few millions in my 
own name and of many friends to in- 
vest. (Since I have been in this coun- 
try old ex-Bresident Cleveland has 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


25 


sent me an invitatiom to go fishing with 
him. “I have got gold, dotn’t you 
know.” I guess he can go in the best 
society in this or any other land 
at least, he could when he had Cabinet 
jobs and Postofh'ces to give out. So 
you ean see that, so far as I am per- 
sonaiiy interested, I can go with the 
best of our land, as I did in India and 
England. General Manager Harrison 
says no gentleman would wish to go 
in company where he could not dress 
so well as those about Mm, and where 
his education would not fit him' to take 
part in the great or small talk going 
on about him. As this gentleman is 
mentioned many times, and as he had 
some trouble on his railroad with the 
New Woman, and refused some .rthings 
in this life that would have made many 
men’s mouth water, it is proper you 
should here be introduced tO' him. He 
was born in Forest, S'cott county, Mis- 
sissippi, and descended from the stock 
that cut off the head of Charles the 
First. He had dark hair and eyes, and 
full face, weighs 175 pounds, talks 
rapidly in conversation and uses good 
language. He served several Express 
Companies f or some years and has had 
millions in his possession, that he had no 
thought, or wish to escape to Canada 
with. He was sent twice to Congress 
as a Democrat, from the Fifth Missis- 
sippi District, once represented by John 
Sharpe Williams. He refused the Am- 
bassadorship to France, saying he did 
not believe he could drink the required 
amiount of wine, being a man of tem- 
perate habits. When a member of the 
Sixtieth iCongress, he attacked a bill 
brought in by some “Hayseed States- 
man,” on the railroads. This was be- 
fore the creationof an important depart- 
ment of this government, mention of 
which I make in another part of this 
book. Among other things, he said 
that the general government, or the 
State legislatures, should buy the rail- 
roads and give every old farmer a mile 
to keep up, or they should let them 
alone. While they were public carriers 
for money, they were private property, 
liable to taxation. At that time there 
were many men in his district who 
thought old Ben Tillman, of South Car- 


olina, was a greater orator and states- 
man than was Henry Clay, and they 
asked him to explain this speech. This 
General Manager never cringed and 
fawned that thrift might follow, when 
he was a poior and obscure man. He 
has a large fund of good common sense 
that always stands every man well 
in hand to have. So he told them he 
would explain nothing and they could 
all go tO' that country Bob Ingersoll did 
not believe in, and he would go back 
to his first love, railroading. All this 
he told me. Many weeks after what 
you will now read took place. 

So asking you to pardon for this de- 
flection, I will again take up the man- 
ager. 

What I wished to know of the man- 
ager was a question affecting labor, for 
labor will stand idle if capital does not 
invest, so' I asked him if the city was 
liberal to himi in the way of taxation, 
as taxes are always one of the fixed 
charges against capital. Nothing is 
sure in this life but death and taxes. 
I was anxious to know more of this 
cotton factory scheme and asked if it 
was not a little socialistic. To this he 
answered that the mill was exempt for 
twenty years, and all stock owned by 
the city was of course exempt, so long 
as they held it — ^that .the cottages, 
put up by the mill company, were tO' be 
exempt for the first five years— that is, 
the house, not the land; that they must 
build not less than fifty at a time to get 
the benefits of this law; that there was 
no more socialism in the city’s taking 
stock in the mill than there was in 
making a direct gift of the same, a 
thing done by many cities thousands of 
times before. If there was law for one, 
then there could be made law for the 
other. We had a few men who had 
indignated about it, but I showed them 
that many cities own their “water 
works,” gas and electric light plants, 
and stock in their street railroads — no- 
tably the city of New Orleans. Some 
years ago the city of Cincinnati built 
the Cincinnati Southern railway, now 
part of the' Great Queen and Crescent 
systems, again, at a cost of twenty- 
three millions, the State of Georgia al- 
so owns the Western & Atlantic road, 
from Chattanooga to Atlanta; that 


26 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


there were lat least a thoiusamd prece- 
dents for what had been done in Vicks- 
burg and Shreveport in the past twen- 
ty years. Building cotton mills and 
railroads is only a que&tion oif money, 
and if you can inspire the people with 
confiidence, that they will not be beaten 
out of their shares in the “Sweet Bye 
and Bye,” you can always get all the 
money you wish. I told the people 
who went into this mill with me that 
they need not expect to get over 4 per 
cent, for their investment; that was 
about what the average mills of the 
East paid, even with protection. But 
here in these two cities we enjoyed 
natural advantages that the East and 
Europe could not have, and that was in 
the matter of transportation. As I 
have explained before, we buy all of 
our cotton (from the wagons which comie 
to us over the (best country roads. Our 
present Governor, whoise name I will 
give you soon, has done a great deaJl 
for the State on the very important 
matter of good roads. No doubt, cap- 
tain, you would be surprised to learn 
that the city had received $10,000 every 
year for fifteen years, which was 10 
per cent.; that she (meaning the city) 
had borrowed the money — gold money — 
in London at 3 per cent. When I made 
a speech in the Auditorium on this mat- 
ter people said I was a Henry George 
crank, and was in favor of the g'overn- 
ment owning everything. Now the 
truth of this matter is I have no more 
faith in the theories of George to cure 
social ills than I have in those of the 
King of Ashantee with his 3333 wives. 
I think this governiment, that is the 
machinery part of it, own all they 
should own.. The civil services of this 
government is quite large enough and 
two many people are now being paid 
good salaries to govern the rest of us. 
But to sustain my point, captain, just 
after the war my health was poor and 
I traveled for two or three years, going 
to aill the principal countries and cit- 
ies of the world, and while I know my 
country, the United States, is the best 
in the world, and I would not under 
any circumstances attack her as some 
of our ambassadors have done— not 
such true Americans as Ambassador 
Rea, who went to England, and Col. 
John Bush, who went to (Paris. They 


made those old loafers quake in theirj 
boots when ever they made a speech.' 
But my point is, there can be no doubt 
but light, water and transportation,' 
are much cheapter in many of of the 
old cities of Europe, and they are much 
better governed than are many of our 
American cities. The trouble, I think,| 
is that too many of our business menj. 
do not take any interest in the political: 
affairs of the city, but are content to” 
pay their taxes and curse congress and., 
old Grover. All such men should re-: 
member that government, like the great! 
river, will go on, and if those who call’ 
themselves good men, and the best! 
men do' not take part, then the others 
will. The duties of a citizen are more 
exacting and more laborious than simp- 
ly paying taxes. [Men who govern 
themselves must look out that he does 
it well. 

Now these words from the manager 
led up to some thoughts that were then 
going through my mind; that was this: 
That there is no land where men talk 
more politics than in the United States. 
Itl is impossilble for two or three men to 
be in each others company for as long 
as three or four hours, but that their 
conversations will lead up to some po- 
litical matters. I do not suppose that 
there is a country on the face of the 
globe where men are taught to expect 
more and where they get less, by the 
changes in office than they do in the 
“United States. The men most ben- 
efitted or harmed are those who hold 
the offices. Most of the men in this 
country have to work for their living— 
it matters not who guides the ship of 
State. Hbw many workingmen felt 
any shock when Harrison turned Cleve- 
land out, and when four years after 
Cleveland turned Harrison out. This 
political incident, well remembered in 
this country, is cited to show that if 
the ideas of one set of men do not 
please you, they can be turned out and 
others placed in their stead. If it were 
possible to unite the workingmen on 
any issue or on any man, it would be 
impossible to defeat them, as they con- 
stitute about two-thirds of our voting 
population. Capitalists do combine for 
many purposes, such as to buy bonds 
and build great railways, but working- 
men never. They are too envious and 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 


27 


i! jealous, and in too big a hurry and their 
I interests are too conflicting. Some 
! cranks treat us every now and then to 
a labor war, but it will not come in a 
I long time if ever. The workingmen 
i are too poor to carry on a war very 
long, for the destruction of the poor is 
I their poverty. Who I mean by the 
• workingmen, icolonel, are those who 
have only their labor tO' sell, the men 
j who build the embankments of our 
railroads and its Ibridges and tunnels 
and who do not own them. While 
workingmen are easily gulled at times 
by a gooid smooth talker of the Weaver 
variety, it can be said to their credit 
that they have never followed to any 
alarming extent the doctrines of old 
Whiskers Peffer, of Kansas. Such a 
calamity would have been heard of, 
even by 'Captain Glover, in far off 
Bombay, the writer thinks. 

I knew great things had taken place 
in this country, and when I took my 
departure for the Orientail regions 
twenty years ago, there were then 
many aspirants for the presidential 
chair. He had made some allu- 
sion to Wm. (McKinley, so I asked him, 
then, if his men took interest in poli- 
tics, or if they ever voted. I said 
something about great changes that had 
been made in this country about this 
great American privilege — that used to 
make the poor man the peer of all men. 
He replied that they did. That in a re- 
publican form of government all men 
were politicians, whether they willed it 
so or not; that at least all had an in- 
terest in good government; that they 
were still Democrats and Republicans, 
though there were more Republicans in 
congress just at present; that a Demo- 
crat of the type of 1892-’4, twenty 
years ago, were like the Cave Bear and 
the Mastadon of the glacial' period of 
the world, an extinct species; that Wm. 
McKinley, of Ohio; Thomas B. Reed, 
of Maine; Chauncey M. Depew, of New 
York, the great after dinner orator; 
and the president of the New York 
Central Railroad; Julius C. Burrows, 
of Michigan; Joseph B. Foraker, of 
Ohio; Wm. B. Allison, of Iowa; Robert 
T. Lincoln, of Chicago, son of the mar- 
tyred president, and General Wm. F. 
Fitzgerald, of California, had all been 
president and vioe-presidents of the 


United States; that Wm. McKinley 
was begiinning his second term, after a 
retirem'ent of some years, or from the 
close of his term March 4, 1901, and 
that this would account for the great 
prosperity which had prevailed in this 
country for the past twenty years — 
that in fine some of the biggest schemes 
in the world were now on hand. This 
was the second or third time this mat- 
ter had been referred to. I never had 
any curiosity, always thought what 
men wanted me to know they would 
tell me. I would have many times in 
my life saved time and trouble if I 
had only asked a few questionc. Now 
every o'ne has heard of these gentle- 
men, and know that they are all Re- 
publicans and prominent men of our 
age and country; and I was pleased 
to know they all got what they wished 
for. Few men do so, in this world, get 
all they wish for. 

As to the prominent Democrats, who 
had been successful in carrying off this 
great prize I also heard. Every man 
who reads much knows that the har- 
bor of Vicksburg’ was ruined by the 
Great Mlissiissippi River’s changing its 
channel in 1876. This has all been re- 
stored by aprpopriations to the amount 
of ten millions and by turning the Ya- 
zoo River from it course. What I saw 
in this harbor will be told in another 
part. He also told me that owing to 
great iimprovements about Chicago and 
to a system of locks and dams the 
Mississippi had twenty feet of water 
in the low water season. That big 
men of war passed up the Mississippi 
and into the great Lakes of the North; 
that the day of fine steamers had come 
again and to stay; that the Great 
Anchor Line had nearly one hundred 
of the finest steameirs in the world, 
that one left New Orleans, and one 
left iSt. Louis every day in the week; 
that iCapt. J. J. Hays, the General 
Mianager, would tell me all about it 
when I saw him. Captain, said he, the 
imiprovement of this great Inland sea, 
has cost the government about two 
billion. But think of the good it has 
done and the men it has employed. 
Overflows we never have. We have 
levees, but we have outlets also. Men 
talk about the billion dollar Congress, 


28 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


and try to make political capital out of 
it to catch Mr. Hayseed with and make 
comparisons witn what it cost to run 
this g-overnment when Jefferson was 
President, and what it cost when Ben 
Harrison and G^rover Cleveland were 
in office. We pay our Amibassadors 
some better now than we did then, but 
when Jefferson was President the “Uni- 
ted States” stopped at the Mississippi 
River, and what is now the fairest part 
of our civilization was then only a 
dismal forest and a howiing wilderness, 
inhabited by wild beasts and wild men 
— wild red men; Captain, not wild sil- 
ver men, as now. [We acquired Louis- 
iana at that time. St. Louis, Mo., may 
have been a little Indian trading post, 
but the great Windy City of Chicago, 
did not even have an existence in the 
brain of man. So all this clap trap cani 
be kicked out and we will only think of 
the results. 

The government has been selling a 
good many bonds, but the money has 
been used to a goiod purpose. About 
four hundred million went to build one 
Great Railrotad alone, and while Messrs. 
Morgan, Rothschild and Company, may 
draw the interest, the people, or at 
least the working men, are satisfied 
because they got the principal in the 
way of wages. I tell you. Captain, 
things have been a humming in this 
country for the past twenty years. 

There was some opposition to the sale 
of these bonds, were there not, I ask- 
ed. 

Oh! yes. Captain, some men said let 
United States print the money. All the 
workingmen want is the fiat of the 
government. II addressed a meeting 
here when the matter was being agi- 
tated, and in answer to that I said this: 
That a merchant’s promissory note was 
a kind of fiat mioney and was good as 
long as that merchant had goods, 
lands, and other things to redeem it. 
But when the time comes, which it 
must do, if he goes on writing or print- 
ing them, until the number of them are 
ten or twenty times greater than the 
value of his goiods or lands, they 
will sink in proportion to his power to 
redeem, as the greenbacks did with 
our government during the civil war. 


In answer to my speech a “free silv€ 
mian” said that all that was needed t , 
make paper and silver as good as gok • 
was the consent of mankind. This 
admitted was true and told him if h 
would go out and get the consent c 
all nations he would immortalize hin: 
self^get them all to agree to any on 
question, did not matter what tha 
question was. The Greek Mathemati 
clan Archimides, said, if he could fin 
a place to stand he could invent a ma 
chine that would turn the weight c 


this earth. Then dt is well understoo 
that the va^lue of money and the kin 
it shall be is founded on the consen 
of mankind. iWhen the free silver me 
can get ail the world to go with then 
then they will be able to win thei 
case. 

Colonel, said I, did you say all that 

Yes, I did. Captain, and more to( 
I saiid I did not know any way to fii 
the pockets of men with money unles 
they would go to work. And the 
would never have anything if the 
passed all their time on the street cor 
ners cursing “old Grover and McKin 
ley.” It did not matter what the mon 
ey was made out of, no man can ge 
it unless he works for it, or has some 
thing to sell for it, and the governmen 
cannot make it out oif anything an» 
make men take it. Congress could pu 
up the same kind of goods that mad' 
Cbbb ask“ where am I at?” and as Ion; 


as men wanted whisky they would cal 
for it; but when they wanted ice teta 
the thing would not go beyond on ; 
sale. 

Nbw, Colonel, said I, it is a greai 
pleasure to me to hear you have mad'i 
a speech like that, and to also hea 
of the success of all these gentlemen 
For maftiy years I have been so bus: 
making money and giving my atten 
tion to a big business that I have no ; 
kept up with pcili'tical matters. Of coursii 
this could not have occured, but the: 
are all now clothed with immortality^: 
And if this much has taken place if 
the nation, it cannot fail to be of in** 
terest to me to know of some of th< 
local changes. Please mention onl3‘ 
those who we will see again as w^“ 
progress with these big schemes. 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


29 


Then followed in rapid words from 
lo manager these facts which I m'ade 
ftorthand notes of: That Ex- Senator 
nd Ex-Governor A. J. McLaurin, of 
KBSissippi, had been Secretary of 
SJ'aar; that Hon. H. C. McCabe, of War- 
sn, had been Governor of Mississippi 
nd United States Senator. Under him 
It} State began the building of her one 
miion dollar State house in Vicks- 
urg , which is mow the capital of Mis- 
SBsppi, and it had just been finished 
y the Hon. Pat. Henry, who is now 
overnor of the State; Hon. Theo. 
irchett had been to congress, and is 
ow United States District Attorney; 
cxl. O. S. Robbins is Attorney-General 
)P the State; Col. R. V. Booth is judge 
f the United States Court; that Judge 
[. C. Niles is on the Supreme Bench 
rud Dr. T. G. Birchett is sheriff of War- 
m county; that Ex-Congressman and 
X-Senator Newton C. Blanchard, of 
ouisiana, had been Secretary of 
rattsportation in the Cabinet of Tom 
eed, and is now Judge of the United 
bates Court at New Orleans; that Ex- 
overnor H. C. Warmoth had been Sec- 
tary of the Navy and was United 
ates Senator from Louisiana, and 
id thrown his strength to the support 
' a big railway that the world has 
ng needed. 

Stop, said I, you will get the proces- 
>n too big to handle. Now, twenty 
-ars agO', the direct route to heaven 
a;s thought or said to be in the South 
rough the Democratic party. And 
seemed as though it would remain 
at way until GaJbriel should blow his 
umpet, so you may try to imagine, if 
>u can, how I was knocked out when 
I told me that Mississippi and Louis- 
na had five Republican Congressmen 
the Lower House and one Senator; 
at this conidition existed in all the 
mthern States. But times change 
id men with them, nevertheless, 
pinions cherished and loved in one 
l^e tare worthless in the next. It is the 
ise man whO‘ keeps himself abreast of 
e times. I was so thoroughly sur- 
Ised by this information, that I do 
)t think I would have ever recovered 
om it, had not the President, Captain 
irroll, given me an electric shock, suf- 
:ent to have killed half the people of 
e city. 


Prom now on, with a few exceptions, 
the writer will devote himself to real 
people, most of them personal friends, 
and through them he will touch upon 
some of the most important questions 
ever before this country. Many a 
truth is said in jest, and he hopes the 
style will in no wise destroy the gems 
of philosophy. Now what took place, 
what I saw and what I heard, will be 
told in the following chapters. The 
characters, those who exist outside of 
imagination, are here wiarned that they 
must not take offense, and try to sup- 
press this book. Those whom the wri- 
ter knows, personally, he esteems high- 
ly, and under no circumstances, could 
he be induced to give them pain, or 
make them the subjects of ridicule. 
Things became more and more eventful 
from that night; in which it will be 
necessary for you to read, to know, 
who and what kind of a man this Cap- 
tain Glover was, and what he had on 
hand anddhe country with him, and see 
the picture he drew oif his country in 
twenty years. 

When the President had fixed me up 
so that I could stand all kinds of shocks 
he said he would go home and return 
later in the evening, as they were going 
to have quite a lot of company, and 
he would like me to be on hand. The 
manager and I then had quite a chat, 
the sum of which was, that it was time 
to get back, to the days, if they ever 
existed, of Democratic or Republican 
simplicity, when people did not make 
fools of themselves about the Presi- 
dent’s new baby, and when they did 
not imagine his children had any more 
sense than those of the village carpen- 
ter, or that they were made out of any 
better clay. Suppose old Ex-President 
Cleveland’s girls had have been boys; 
is there any evidence going to show 
they must be kings of the United States 
There is growing in this country, I 
think, too much of a disposition to ape 
and fawn upon people, because they 
are clothed with a little political power. 
There are to-day many men who would 
make good men -in any place, but are 
with out money or friends and cheek, 
to put them in positions. I felt a little 
cheap, when he touched on simplicity 
of life, when I considered the way I 
was living down at the Grand. He 


30 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


must have noticed this, and had no 
wish to offend me for he sweetened it 
in these words: My motto, captain, is 
this: Det every man live as he can af- 
\ford, and what you cannot afford, do 
not wish for. Do not be unhappy be- 
cause you do not have all you see oth- 
ers have. There are many who see, 
but few who know, what is behind all 
this display captain; what I said 
about display do not think I meant to 
apply to you, said the manaig-er. 

Oh, no, said I. In discussing any 
question I never consider it from a per- 
sonal standpoint. I like your mill, and 
the scheme upon which it was built, 
and is run, and I am sure it will go a 
long way in solving the labor question, 
of this city at least. And if other cites 
will take the hint they will soon realize 
wealth beyond the dreams of avarice. 
And were it not that I had a different 
scheme for my money, and those I rep- 
resent, I would be tempted to go to 
New Orleans and try and build one on 
the same principle. But did I under- 
stand you to say, that she now has sev- 
eral fine mills in this first quarter of 
the twentieth century? 

You did, captain; that city has been 
growing steadily for the past twenty 
years, and is to-day one of the great 
cities of the world. This (is no joke. 
But to proceed. I am pleased to know 
that the labor of our country for the 
past twenty years, has been getting 
something more than “expectations,” 
that is indeed refreshing. This expec- 
tation diet, is something like hoarding- 
house coffee. But speakng on this 
money question, and the distribution 
of wealth, I believe a prosperity is pos- 
sible where most men would have work 
at fair wages. I do not like to stick 
my knife in these wind bags, that some 
of our Congressmen and editors have 
blown up, and passed over to the work- 
ingman. But when the time comes that 
all the laboringmen will have as much 
as $1,000 in money, in their pockets, 
good money — “gold and silver money” — 
pigs will be flying and dogs will have 
feathers on them. Some may delight 
to fill the heads of men with visions and 
dreams that will never be realized in 
this world, but my philosophy is to call 


a spade a spade and take the conse- ; 
quences. | 

But, colonel, said I, did you ever stop ! 
to think how much those who have to | 
work are benefitted by the extrava- | 
gance of others ? J 

Every dioillar ithat 'is paid lOut by man 
or woman, helps ^ome one, but that | 
which is taken by the miser, and hid- 
den away, decreases the circulation and i 
in a small way hurts. A few thousand ’ 
misers, carefully distributed in a coun- 
try, would in a few years, drive the 
country to a silver basis, but gold bugs. : 
who invest thelir gold in mills and rail- 
roads, in houses land farms, are a bles- i 
sing. Every investment, even' those 
that do 'not pay the stockholders, has ; 
bienefitted the laborer, to the extent of | 
ithe wages they were paid, to manufac- ' 
'ture the maitea’iall, and (to construcit the ! 
plant. Education sharpens the appe- 
tltes of meh and they want more books j 
arid better books, and better food and I 
garments, and better houses and furni- 
ture, and finer cars to travel in, the i 
best hotels to 'stop at, and so it goes. ' 
I envy no man in having what he can 
afford, 'and if he is foolish In the wast- { 
ing of his money, someone is more than 
apt to profit by it. In this great repub- I 
lie of ours, moist men make their money ! 
iin siomie useful business. I told the i 
Prince of Y7ales once when he was com- j 
men ting on how the swells of New | 
York live, that his family had succeed- 
ed in, saddling (themselves oh the com- 
mon people of Engiland, under the fool 
delusion thait thicy were royal in their 
blood; and he nor they did no more 
have to consider wheire the gold came 
from or how, th.an did the lillies of the 
field,. I do niot favor placing any more 
restrictions on what a man shall make 
and S'ave, 'than I do oh what he shall 
learn, if he has the time and: the books | 
to learn from, and the sense to apply it. ! 
I Would not make the rich (support the | 
government, siimipiy because they are 1 
rich. I think they pay as near in pro- | 
portion to what they own, as do others. 
All men get out of all the taxatiion they 
cam. This is human nature. It always ^ 
looks 'like paying out money for noth- , 
ing. As to whether the rich men think'., 
they are better than poor men, is a i 
question of opinion, which law cannot ,3 
reach. 




THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


31 


i My business rielation's, Colonel, ®aid 
j I, ihavie t'h'i^own me with both kinds, and 
1 1 have seen some of the same kind of 
' dispositions in both classes. He is best 
, >rho lives best, acts best, and thinks 

I ijest. 

: “Lives of gireat men all remind us 
; We can make ouir lives subliime; 
j .Ind departin'g-, leave beihind us, 
t^oot plants in the sands of time.” 

We niaturally expect more of the rich, 
j than the poor, not only in their gifts 
of money, but in* the standardis of miora'l 
aharacter. The inducements to trans- 
1 gress, seem to me, to be much less 
I vrtth the rich man than with thie poor 
ones. Wealth gives opportunities to 
j learn and cuiltivate the mind, w^hich is 
- a stranger to those who are upon an 
eiVer mioving tread-'mill, anid they must 
work or be crush ed to death. But there 
is no need foir the working man to quar- 
rel with what Is called In^ our days the 
fashion able set. And if he does not 
wish t0‘ read the ten or twenty coiuminS; 
ttow devoted every Sunday, in the news- 
palpers, to the ‘^sayings and doings of 
society,” he need not do so. Remember, 
they pay for the paper also. He can 
get him a copy of the rieport of the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury, my friend, Ooi. 
C C. Flowerree, of Vicksburg, and he 
will find out how many bonds have been 
sold. 

There is something in this world 
to please every one, if you only knew 
where to find it. 

Just here I was getting a little dry, 
rebulding the world on designs by 
myiself, and the 'Colonel suggested I 
try a littel ice tea; that Tom Watson 
said made a man ask “where am I?” 

When I got steamed up again T 
went at him like this: 

Cofl. Bancrof, said I, I agree with you; 
that a simple style of living is best for 
men. Many a man has gone to an early 
grave, from trying to put too many 
days into one, and had to tie up their 
big toes, from stopping at such Hotels 
as the Grand Central. But I want to 
say a few words to you here. I am a 
gold bug, and of course a man who 
could buy that whole batch of gold 
bonds, as I was solicited to do, by the 
Secretary of the Treasury, and I have 
the “letter which I did not burn” to 


prove it; can stop anywhere. But the 
man who has tio earn his living on the 
hurricane deck of a box car cannot. I 
am satisfied that from all you have 
told me, that if there is not much gold 
in' this community, there is a world of 
confidence, and I hope the fact that I 
am such, will in no way prejudice the 
people against me. Captain J. M. Phil- 
'lipiS, the well known banker, was to see 
me, a few days ago, and he said all 
these free silver men wantd was plen- 
ty of collateral; land he would agree 
to fi'nd them all the gold they wanted. 

Captain, said he, all we want is col- 
laterals, coillaterals, plenty of collat- 
erals. 

Jlim, said I, laughing, I believe you 
are right; my ireas'ons for being a gold 
man are well founded, I hope, and I 
am a friend of labor, and if the giving 
up of all I have would do them any 
go'od and make the world any better, 
I mean men, I would cheerfully do so. 
My ships and their cargoes repreisenit 
an investment of 'about fifty millions — 
same amount as one or two of the 
bond sales. If it was lall 'divide'd among 
the working men pro rata, it would not 
add much to their individual wealth; 
but invested fin my New Orleans 'and 
Central American Railroad, it will 
give 'many men an. opportunity to earn 
his living “and fin the sweat of his 
face eat bread.” That was the 'doom 
of man when driven from the garden 
of Eden, so said. At any rate, that 
has been, and wiill be, the fate of 
many millions until the “Poips get the 
country.” Then we can all light our 
cigars with money, such as fit will be. 
If all the money 'of the Goulds, Astors, 
Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Armours 
'and Morgans were taken from them, 
and divided with farmers, clerks, rail- 
road men, it i'S ipossilble they would have 
$10 m'ore than they now have. Then 
the power of lany one to eimploy labor 
would be gone, and the others could 
not take their places. For no man 
worth only $10, can employ much 'la- 
bor; he could not hire m'any Am'bassa- 
dors, whose pay is $63.50 per day, and 
they are talking of going on a strike. 

Capt. Glover, you are right, said the 
Manager. Tour head is level even if 


32 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R, 


you h'ave not iread the papers much for 
the past twenty years, and did not 
hear much while you were in far off 
Boimfbay; you have not forgotten what 
you dlid know, or what you may have 
read er thought about this labor proib- 
lem. I tell you it has given the coun- 
try a world of trouble, and I hope 
what you say will help throw some light 
on the subject, I tell yiou the wiay the 
politicians and their press talk to the 
working men, in this country I cannot 
see, what has kept us from having a 
French revolution. Men are getting so 
in. many places they have no respect 
for property; to root out the envy and 
jelousy of him whO' has nothing, against 
him who has, is not possilble. Men who 
are ignorant, who know but little and 
do not know that weill, often consider 
'intelliigence of other men as a personal 
wrong. But, sir, you are In no dan- 
ger, the “sound mioney’* men are on- 
top, and have been for the last twenty 
years, and the “free silver” craze is 
now gone where the “woodlbine twineth, 
and the whang doodle mourneth,” 
they may try to run a bluff on you, 
but stand your ground; its all wind, 
all shadow, and while some men, mav 
abuse you because reports say you are 
a rich man, try and be like the other 
rich men of our country — ^do not lose 
sleep or miss any meals on account of 
that. I do not believe the r'lch care the 
snap of thelir fingers about what the 
poor devils say of them. Why should 
they? I expect to be busy for a while, 
said he, looking at his watch; but don’t 
go from the mill, I shall have a friend 
here to talk with you, and bye and bye 
we will have it again. I want to tell 
you about our Miississippi men who 
went to Europe. 

But one more word. Colonel, said I, 
before you go. I suppose all these men 
who you tell me have achieved so much 
in political and in commercial life, have 
had a good deal of abuse heaped upon 
them. 

Oh, yes, Captain, everything has its 
cost. 


“He who ascends the mountain tops 
shall find 

The loftiest peaks most wrapped in 
clouds and snow. 

He who surpasses or sulbdues man- 
kind. 

Must look down on the hate and envy 
of those below.” 

Here the Manager walked out for a 
short while, and left me alone. I lit 
a cigar, and walked over to the window 
and looked out on the beautiful flower 
garden, and a man who was sprink- 
ling them, and I thought of the words 
of Oliver CrOldsmith, 

“And still they gazed — 

And still the wonder grew.” 

That one small head, could carry all 
he knew. 

I admit in another part, that I felt 
I had been imposed upon, all because 
I had not read much, in the past twen- 
ty years. Men who do not read will 
always be imposed upon, by “free sil- 
ver men,” and all other kind of people. 

After that evening, I met the Man- 
ager a great many times, for he board- 
ed at The Carroll Hotel, and I had 
many initeresting converisations with 
him. My condition changed very much 
after this, but his friendship for me 
nervier did; Manager Bancroft was one 
of nature’s noblemen, and liked his 
friends, gold, or no gold. Before in- 
troducing to you Other characters, with 
information and with political and com- 
mercial success, coupled with wonder- 
ful things, over which you wiill marvel 
greatly, the author wishes to say a 
few words, on present and passing 
events, and begs the reader indulgence 
for so doing. iHe considers it proper to 
here lay the foundations for what the 
Hero has to tell before coming to some 
of the main schemes in this work. The 
study and portrayal of human 
nature and character in a novel, and 
wtih social questions combined, affect- 
ing the rich and poor, and the distri- 
bution of the products of labor, has 
engaged the time and taxed the mind, 
and pens of the best thinkers and writ- 
ers in all ages, and is well worthy of 
the task: Our natures, our opinions. 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


33 


costoms and prejudices ohanige slowly, 
amd twenty years will (bring but little 
in that respect. But the topographical 
conditions change very rapidly; in this 
age of progress, of inventions and of 
steam and electrical (railroads. Those 
of us who have beein reared iin the city, 
and have reached the age of forty and 
fifty years, can well remember the 
time when lOur streets were imipassable 
after a few days rain, and wrapped in 
darkness, except when fair luna shed 
her light. Great tall buildings now oc- 
cupy the sites where shanties stood, 
and the busy wheels of industry sing 
their songs of coming wealth in our 
great ma'nufacturing plants. On the 
green commons where as boys we play- 
ed base ball and marbles, stands the 
beautiful homes of the frugal, industri- 
ous and successful of the city. While 
the constant ringing of the alarm gong 
on the electric cars, drive from our 
memory the idea that this spot was 
ever an old field. In dense forests and 
over mountains (and streams, and 
across desert waste reached only once 
in a great while (after many weary 
days of travel by the hunter foir gold 
or silver, or by the mover with his slow 
ox waggons — now rushes the lightning 
express acid fast mail trains — while 
on. their trails great cities an(d beauti- 
ful villages have beeui built, and to 
them have come the merchant, the law- 
yer, doctor, manufacturer, the minister 
and school teacher, while in commer- 
cial and political life, mem unknown 
twenty years before, have startled the 
world with their schemes and guided 
our ship of state 'and filled our legis- 
lative halls with eloquence and “bun- 
combe.” Prom the notes before me, I 
believe I reiad the times aright and see 
miany things that will startle the world 
for nine days at least, (and greatly aid 
commerce and civfilizatlon. The wri- 
ter is an optomiist always and believes 
the world grows wiser and better, and 
that (all the good peo(ple are not those 
who lived a long time ago. Some of 
their pames are in this book. He be- 
lieves that men can govern themselves 
an this great country, and that it will 
continue to grow until its waste places 
will “blossom like the rose.” He also 

3 


ibelieves the woes of workingmen are 
mostly of their own making, and a 
lack of knowledge, and a want of con- 
tentment, and a wishing for what all 
of us cannot have — (plenty of money — 
and not to the failure of Congress to 
pass a “free siilver bill.” He does not 
profess to know the national financial 
problem, from A to Izzard, and would 
not claim to be able to teach John Sher- 
man and Grover Cleveland things they 
have never dreamed of in the wildest 
flights of their golden imaginations. 
■He has .passeid all his life at hard la- 
bor trying to solve it from a personal 
stand point, that he might bedeck him- 
self and family in purple and fine linen, 
having a fair share of human vanities. 
He has read no books coming from the 
pens of philosopheirs promising oiodles 
of things for the asking. He read a 
lot of it in “Coin’s Pinancdal School,” 
but he does (not regard “Coin” as a 
statesman -or philosopher, or as the 
“Napoleon of finance of the world.” 
But he does not cover near so much 
ground tas some other things you will 
read off. He knows that merchants, 
b'ankers and farmers will not take paper 
and silver only to a certain limit at 
present, and that ends the case. And 
that the poorest laborer would not cart 
it away when it has ceased to have 
an exchange value. He knows when 
the people of his (and all other cities 
black their judgment about what will 
pay with their bonds and money, and 
do not depend too much on others; 
and that when the goivernments of the 
world stake their credit for the things 
described, they will not be worse off, 
but much better than from many bil- 
lions of bonds sold before. Bet it be 
remembered, that while he sellls three 
times as miany bonds as did Secretary 
Carlisle, it was not to pay expenses, 
and furnish wine to sapheads in foreign 
land; and to roll up and pereptuate 
upon the common people, of this and 
comiing generations, a moneyed aris- 
tocracy who look upon the treasury as 
so much legitimate plunder. And Dr. 
Roetgen, wonderful discoverer of the 
cathode rays for photographing the 
interior of heiads, will prove his state- 
ment. And it is making a public debt 


34 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


whdch a thiouisiand years heaice you will 
not see wiped out without a revolu- 
tion. All debts for the future must be 
paid 'out of the resurces of the future, 
and Iby labor, because labor produces 
all wealth, and it will fall with greater 
weight upon tho'se who must labor for 
their living and who struggle not for 
power. 

The author knows that it was noth- 
ing but a lot of ttheoretical tomfoolry 
about the “tariff and silver” and help- 
ing the workiinigman at the expense of 
his employer, the manufacturer, that 
caused legislation in this country and 
made an addition of over $500,000,000, 
principal and interest, to that already 
large public debt, bequeathed to our 
country as the results of that unhappy 
civil war. Any one who will calculate 
the interest at 4i/^ per cent, on $262,- 
000,000 for thirty years Will see I have 
not mistated this fact. He believes 
the sale of those bonds was almosit a 
crime against the workingmen of this 
country who have no more influence in 
now directing the affairs of this gov- 
ernment than does the figurehead at 
the brow of the ship control the course 
of the ship. It cannot logically be 
defended by the blindest partisan that 
was fed at the public crib during this 
remarkable admin'istration, and he is 
willing at any time to take a passage 
at larms with those wihO' wish to try and 
justify this virtual robbery of the many 
for the few. He has never played the 
roll of the demagogue, and hopes he 
knows as much about what men may 
and may not expect from this govern- 
ment as any man who is drawing $17,- 
500 per year for pretending to be wise, 
but who, in truth, is somie personal 
friend of the President, and if he lives 
in Mississippi or Louisiana, may have 
“stuffed a iballot box or fed it to a 
mule.” He claims the right to speak 
for or of the workingman of this coun- 
try, being one of them, and thinks he 
knows the difference betweeni hard la- 
bor and professions, having done some 
of both. He knows that workingmen 
often have had bad leaders, and say 
and do many foolish things, in their 
struggles against greed. But when 
the thought machines now in course of 
construction are perfected, which, 
when placed to the temples of a man 


will record his thoughts, as the phon- 
vOgraph does his voice, it will be found 
that at least some of the workingmen 
are not a “job lot of fools,” even if they 
have lost power and have no money to 
buy gold bonds. In one case, no one 
was benefited, except that the rich syn- 
dicate found a soft place for his money, 
and in the other thousands were put to 
work, given that which they most de- 
sire — ^work and wages, and not foreign 
consuls or cabinet positions, and with- 
out which they must and do become 
tramps and vagabonds. The frequent 
raps of those who misrepresent the 
country in foreign lands is not done 
with the hope or expectation of mak- 
ing any change, or for the purpose of 
exciting the prejudice of those who in 
all probability will never see this, and 
could not help the matter, even if it 
should keep them' awake at night. He 
has no philosopher’s stone to. cure all 
the ills of the government. But only 
wishes to call the attention of the 
powers that be; that is, those who- own 
the government — that many working- 
men -are seeing and discussing these 
things^ — ^and such Oriental displays and 
aping after royalty as is practiced by 
them does not belong tO' this govern- 
ment of the people, for the people, and 
by the people, but to those governments 
where humanity is being held down by 
the bayonet and cannon until their 
brains have become so confused that 
it would be a difficult task to get them 
to believe that Ood made them for 
any purpose but to feed, clothe. Wine 
and dine a tot of flunkies, sycophants 
and professional hangers on, who mag- 
nanimously permit them, to live on this 
earth on what is left when their wants 
are satisfiied. Our whole consular ser- 
vice could be swept into the sea. with 
several of them riding on the top wave 
without causing any serious disturb- 
ance to the planet we inhabit and 
would not do the workingman and his 
class half as much damage as did the 
“great Chicago Tailroad strike.” 

These thoughts of the writer, who is 
not trying to p'ose as a reformer are not 
of course in keeping with those who say 
they believe that the government has 
not half enough officers, and that they 
do not get half enough pay. I wonder 

if they know how much of a sacrifice 


35 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 


it is to some mem to have to pay taxes 
to support all this; let his part be ever 
so small. Our oomomercial relations 
with over half of Europe could be done 
through banks, as it ds now, and their 
abolishment for twenity years would 
come near paying the public debt. And 
a government that has to be borrowing 
money every few moruths could well af- 
ford to try it. Of course the ambassa- 
dors will not take my advice and re- 
sign, but they will stick to their coun- 
try as long as she hasi a bond left. Many 
of these useless officers are paid enor- 
mous sums to- do nothing, while many 
of the poor wome-n in our postoffices are 
compellel to stand long, weary hours of 
watch, and go to their work before 
daylight and through rain and snow, 
and for a salary that would not feed 
the ambassador’s house-cat. This lan- 
guage and opinions here expressed 
may keep me out of the cabinet as post- 
master- gen er ail, or from being the post- 
master at Chicago, as; I expect to move 
to that city, or to New Orleans, when I 
sell two* or three millions copies of this 
book. But these are facts, and if the 
telling of the truth should cause me to 
miss those coveted' plums, I shall be no 
worse off than I have always been. 
Then as we cannot hope tO' get rid of 
them as long as the continent shall 
hold together, I shall try to show some 
improvement in that line. Perhaps the 
present incumbents may imagine they 
are making the world wiser and better, 
but he begs to inform them that there 
are from’ seven to ten miiliions buried 
in the “catacombs of Rome,” where 
“Van Allen paid $50,000 to be sent, so 
said,” and many such as they, and the 
world does not know who they were, 
or what they did, if anything for the 
human family. But they are solemn 
reminders of the destiny of human 
vanity and greatness. My object in 
these comments is to show that these 
things can be very properly termed the 
“sowing of the Dragon Teeth,” and 
they widen the gulf between those who 
labor and pay for it against those who 
spend their time in the “courts of Van- 
ity Fair.” In his opinion of this kind 
of thing the writer does not hesitate 
to say he is in accord with the senti- 
ment of the illustrious Thomas Jeffer- 
son and old Hickory Jackso'n, who said 


that governmient which always cost 
enough is for the benefit of all and not 
for the glory of the few. 

We are hearing so much about the 
Monroe doctrine at present that this 
may also be in order. It was never in- 
tended or expected that this govern- 
ment should be represented at home or 
abroad in a lot of glare and glitter, 
where men with swallow-tail coats, 
shal low hea d bewail the human nature 
of all other meni and expect them to pay 
the bills. The workingman and farm- 
ers of the country may be getting a 
great deal out of alil this, but the writer 
fails tO' see it through his leather spec- 
tacles. Just how the fact that England 
pays her ambassadors $35,000 per year 
and a house in Washington city, made 
the cabmen of London, or the railway 
employe get more for his work, is a 
point I should be pleased to receive 
some instruction on; and also how it 
would help the cotton planter of the 
South, and the farmer of the West, and 
the stockmen of Texas, or even the 
“silver miners,” to raise the pay of all 
the consular service 50 per cent, will 
please be included in your letter of 
information to me. So far as display 
made from personal means is concern- 
ed, it is not a matter for law or con- 
gress; and as it has been or will be 
commented on ini another way, it need 
not here be referred to. He does not 
expect to see capital and labor come to 
clash of arms and hopes they will not, 
and if they should he would expect to 
see labor get the worst of it, in the fu- 
ture as in the past. Workingmen are 
too weak and ignorant tO' make a suc- 
cessful fight against capital, who are 
usually well equipped with fine educa- 
tions, or with the money to command 
them. He believes this Union and 
government, the hope of mankind, is 
worth all it cost in blood and! money to 
save it, and that it is not going soon 
to “the eternal bow-wows,” or into the 
Populistic camp. But is it any wonder 
that so many young men, and old men, 
of the rural district, are tO' be found 
wandering in strange forests, and their 
might dreams are made hideous with 
“Populistic warehouses,” and “free sil- 
ver by the wagon load” in their vain 
efforts to equalize things. Extrava- 
gance in the government causes the 


36 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


money to rush out of the treasury like 
water through a broken crevasse in a 
Mtsisiss^ippi levee, and this calls for 
more bomd sales, because this govern- 
ment cannot make “gold or silver,” 
and it has no mines of its own. All 
those kind of things open to the capi- 
talist an opportunity to invest his 
money where he meed not take the risks 
that are incident to capital, invested in 
railroads for legislative solons to su- 
pervise, and demand free p^asses over 
while so doing. (As they are on busi- 
ness for the dear people, the dear peo- 
ple should pay their fare). But to con- 
tinue the point. To- that extent all 
these kinds of laws are nails in la- 
bor's coffin. If the public debts of the 
United States were paid up six months 
afterwards, there would mot be an idle 
man or woman in this whole country, 
except from! choice; as all this capital 
must be employed to- make interest or 
profits, and labor must be employed to 
be kept from starvation. A 4 per cent, 
bond with no taxes and no risks is 
equal to 10 with risks, and losses ad- 
ded. But I will mot dwell here in the 
middle of this work. If you will use 
your thinking machine you will see the 
point. There are to-day hundreds of 
officers whose only use in the machin- 
ery lof this government is to keep down 
the surplus. Ask your Congressman 
about them, and he will tell you they 
are not in his district, and he can do 
nothing to remedy this evil, and those 
in whose district they are dare not at- 
tack them. So, like the streams, “they 
gO' on forever.” Men who have a large 
business like that of Andrew Carnege, 
Phil Armour and George M. Pullman 
are held up to the scorn of working- 
men. It is, las they would say: “Book 
yonder! look yonder! but do not look 
here.” While these pets of Congress- 
men and Senators are fattening at the 
public rib, rendering their country no 
more service than if they were the 
paid directors of the sun, moon and 
stars. Men like Jay Gould and many 
others, who built our great railroads 
with their money, have done their 
country and laboriiigmen more good, 
directly and indirectly, than all the 
host of ambassadors since the days of 
George Washington. A world of de- 
ception can be practiced by those who 


have the power to “coin” words that 
will appeal to the imagination, while 
they go on making conditions that will 
call for more bond sales; that with- 
draws capital from that active and 
competing race where labor must be 
employed to make profits to the owner 
or company. Such high sounding 
words las “our great material prosper- 
ity,” words that have no meaning 
when (the substance is not there. The 
writer does not expect to see a city 
where all men live in “brown stone 
fronits,” but he believes it is possible to 
run this government without piling up 
a public debt of $50,000,000 per year. 
And he does not give these opinions 
and make these comments for any 
partisan purpose, as he has no ax to 
grind, and cares not a fig who, of all 
the gentlemen named in this! book, is 
the president of the “United States.” 
But like his friend of the “Iconoclast.” 
of Waco, Texas, he believes in calling 
a spade a spade. 

In coinicluding these remiairks on. mat- 
ters up to date, the writer wishes to beg 
your indulgence for a few more lines 
and he will repeat that he is no 
theorist, alarmist, pessimist” or dealer 
in fire brands, for his brother workling- 
man. He understand'S the obstacles in 
the way of abolishing this uselless wheel 
of the government. But he has wished 
for years for ithe opportunity to present 
itself to pay his respects in behalf of 
the workingman of this country, to 
these peach blossoms, and ispecial pets 
of all the Preisidents, w'ho have throng- 
ed Europe' for the last thirlty years. In 
all probability he would have passed 
them by. But they, after having been 
fed on the fat of tthe land, and paid the 
best of salaries on earth, to do nothing, 
dropped the code of old Ben Franklin; 
and like Oliver Twist, they called for 
■sitili more. Tihis caused him' to read up 
and look into their case a little. Hav- 
ing viewed laboir amid a rich blaze of 
diamonds, electric lights, palms and 
ferns, they ihad the audacity to attack 
the policy of their government of rais- 
ing revenue to pay them and the “Su- 
gar teat Democrats” with, which I have 
shown he<lped Capital and labor in my 
cotton factory schem'e. Some of them 
have rushed into print to tell the work- 
lingman that 'the fruitful source of all 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 37 


iiis WO 0 S are -the big man;ufaotu:rinig 
planits /that protectioin ihas built up, and 
where he was paid wages to build, ajnd 
where he gets wageis of some kind if 
he worked. He may inoit ireoeive the 
same pay as does the manager, buit he 
finds a market for (Mis labor, and that 
is what most workingmen want, and 
-niot a lot of trash from mien drawing 
$20,000 a year from the goivernmient to 
do nothing. Oitheirs teil (him the loorpo- 
rations, sudh as the railroads, are the 
curse of his existence, and the goyern- 
ment muSt apply the brakes or the 
railroad men will soon ail be islaves. 
He is willing to admiit (that ithe heads 
of all big planits are niot angels. But 
one thing he is sure of, that a few 
years ago, before a general depression 
settled over this country and a lot of 
legislation iln many Sitates by long-elared 
legislators, greatly (affected (the reve- 
nues of railways, there was no kind of 
business where men were better treat- 
ed and where (they received better 
wages than on the railways of thiis 
great country; and it is even so today, 
and is going to be muidh better than at 
present, ais you will isee as you turn (the 
pages of this book. But it is useless to 
fire a lot of paper balls at (the “likes 
of them.” Nothing but the election of 
Mrs. Lease as presidenlt would put them 
out. But as she has given up all poli- 
tics and gone to preaching, (there is no 
hope, so wie will have to grin and bear 
it. But the itime is ooiming, when 'their 
hands will be called and by a native of 
Mississippi. 'Wie are determined we 
will mot be out done by South Carolina, 
but we will send some men there who 
will show how this thing cam be done. 
Having had my say here, whlich it would 
have been pleasieid to hiave avoided, but 
could no*!, because it wias in the play, I 
regret the necessity arose thiajt you 
should be turned from (the dreams of 
the future (to face some of (the things 
of every day life, but then “the world 
tis all a ^tage, and men and womien are 
actors on it.” We go fro mi the Crand 
Opera House where the hero or heroine 
trampleis down all oppoisition, and 
where right triumphs over wrong; and 
we step again into the world where the 
reverse is going oni, wihere, perhaps, on'e 
man in a thousand may stop to con- 
sider whether what he Say's or thinks 


or does is right. I tried for a long time 
to get me an actor for these wioirds, and 
could not. All cowards are afraid to 
enter into a dance with them. I turned 
the pages Of over a thousand books in 
the public library and got me a search 
light and lO'Oked through the files of 
many newspapers in the hope that the 
“cup might pass by me,” and that I 
W(OUlid be able to find so-mielthing that 
would fit their cases. I wrote to the 
400 in New York, -the Theosophical So- 
diety, and saw the members of the Lin- 
coln Club and the B. B. Literary So- 
ciety. I wrote the Salvation Army, for 
I felt in my soul that if ever there was 
a set that needed packing in sialt. It was 
those wiho do the soiciieity aet for o'ur 
country in Europe. I telil but the truth 
when I say tlhait I would hiave preferred 
some one e Isie — isome abler peini than miine 
— (Should have (takeni hold of this fash- 
ionable wheel of our governimienlt; and 
I (had made' up my mind to ignore them 
as they will me, and would have done 
so, but I lacoidentallly stumbled up lom 
the information that (tlhey propoised to 
lobby congress to aippoint them a “poet 
laureate,” with a salary of $5,000 per 
year, to write &on(gs of them in box car 
letters and sing them, in horsefly notes. 
Then it was that I decided, after pray- 
ing over the matter, (that I would throw 
all timidity to the winds and would 
rush forward and save my country be- 
foire it was everlastinigly too late. I 
knew they were so busy Isipping wine 
and patting royalty on the back and la- 
menting the fact that “the heroes of 
1776” wiped out all special clay, that 
they coiuld not hear a poor man, if he 
fired la cannon under their window, or 
beat a holtel going within two feet of 
their ears. I do noit write poetry, land 
could not therefore g<et the job. Bult 1 
have written a little prO'se over which 
you may reflect and he submits he has 
handled them with thait whidh they are 
most used tO' — kid gloves — compared 
with how it ishiould be done. It is a sin 
and a shame the way the money of the 
governments of the world is worse than 
wasted by (those in power, the ruling 
classes in our country .ais well. “He 
wlho mlakes two bllades of grass grow 
Wihere lOne lor nonle grew belfoire is a 
benefactoir lof mankind.” But he who 
(tramples down or destroys the grass 


38 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


tba(t ano'their grew is an eniemy of Ms 
kiind. And 'haw many worthloiss people 
are kept up in iStyile they do not work 
for — inieither with their capital nor itheiir 
musole'S, anid therefoire do inioit dieseirve 
it, would be .impo'&sible to itell. Do I 
hope ito chanige ;i't by whait I may say lin 
ithis book? No, I do not. For what is 
every man’s businieisis is genferally like 
no mian’s Hand. The correidt itheoiry of 
goveirnmenlt iis that the people should 
and must support 'the government, and 
not the governfment support the people. 
This must be done by a sytemi and 
scheme of raising 'revenue; 'oir in other 
words, coltedting up the money. The 
maninier in w'hich it shiouild be done and 
the way it iShould be applied separates 
mien into great political parties of which 
the Demociratic and Republiioan are the 
most prominent in this clountry; and 
oiflten into fierce and bitter faldtions and 
personal einemies, land causing them to 
say and do things for the good of the 
party, which in ordinary life (they would 
scoiin tO' think of. Wie do, at lieas't many 
men do, too miany mean (things foir the 
good of the party. The otojeat df all 
government is the security and protec- 
tion of life and properlty. When these 
are noft safe, becausle you do not agree 
with some other man, then the object 
of the government is golne, and you 
had as well! be with the “(Oomianche 
Indians.” In our struggles tO' place our 
friends in power, we have overlooked 
these leaks in the ships of sitate, to 
whidh I have calledi your attention, to 
when free governmtents reaches that 
pioinit that she begins to (take care of 
hangers-on In useless offices, and pen- 
sions for 'services rendered the coun- 
try when Coluim'bus first landed, then 
s'he Is fast approadhing the day wihen 
government becomes a curse in. stead of 
a blessing. I suppose some writer full 
of rhetoric and high sounding phrases 
which mean nothiing but a. little display 
of learning to men who (are tramping 
the country will attempt to show me 
where I am off. Let them do so if they 
can. I believe it is possible tO' disbiand 
every army and navy in the world and 
for men to live in peace If they would 
and while I may holt live to see lit, I 
think it possible, and probable and de- 
sirable. I have, las we would say i,n 
law, filed the declaration against those 


who are imposing on the credulity of 
their country. They may plead at their 
leisure, and from how on I will step 
aside. I will stick to my itext, and will 
record no inicident of my O'wn life, and 
will refrain from expressing my opin- 
lions on any thing. Rut will faithfully 
land truthfully transcribe 'from the 
notes given me, the progress of 'the 
world and my country for the last twen- 
ty years, and the sayings 'and doings of 
Captain John Glover and his friends. 
But I found he and others failed to 
drive up (these nails as ilt should have 
been done. I have taken 'the respon- 
sibility as the edlitor of his notes tO' do 
SO' for him. And as a paritihg shot to 
the 'ambassadors before (other charac- 
ters take their places land discuss their 
hase as well las tihosie who hiave con- 
verted our financial system in)to an end- 
les's chain whereby they draw gold at 
one window and sell it at the other, rak- 
ing off a b'ig sum each time, I am re- 
minded of (a fable I onee read that a 
cruel king condemned a subject to car- 
ry a calf for thirty years. By and by it 
grew to be lan ox, when 'ohe day, stag- 
gering under its great we'ight he fell, 
and by it he was crushed to death. 
The ox having always been used to 
being carried from place tO' piace, re- 
fused to walk, or work, and lay in the 
streelt, biockilng the wlay, wihen, a pa- 
trfiOt'ic citizen stepped forward and 
slew him. I'n the early days of our Re- 
public thies'e lambassadoirs were a neces- 
sity to oonciliaite the kings, and' queens 
and emperors /and keep them off of us. 
But inow we have grown greiat and 
grand, lanid are not lonily lalble to take 
care of ourselves but we can make all 
other countries of Euro'pe “keep off the 
grass in South America.” All writers 
have somiething to recomimiend when 
they find fault with existing conditions, 
and as we afie selling a greiat miany 
goods' in Europe als you have already 
seen anid in (China and Japan /and are 
striving for the commercial supremacy 
of the world, I would advise our am- 
bassadors be tunned into gay and fes- 
tive drummers ahd have is/ome friiends 
to recommend : To England I will send 
Jerry Dixon, of H anise 11 & ICo’s. great 
book store in New O'rleans ; to Germany 
I will send George M. Hearns, of 
Shreveport, representing the Ely & 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 


39 


Walker Drygioods Oo., of Sit. Louis; 
and to Paris I Will send John 
T. Benedict, of Wear & Bdoger GDry- 
goods Co., St. Louis; and to Japan 
Captain Prank D. Tolbert, of Shreve- 
port, anid .to St. Petersburg, Russia I 
will send George K. Shotwell, to sell 
them all the tobaooo thaJt is made by 
Ithe great firm of “Hiersihieimer Bros.. 
New Orl-eans, amid I wiidl guarantee for 
the same salary or less, they will sell 
goeds enough to block the great raJiil- 
way of this twienltieith oentury of wlhioh 
you will niow read. Congress may not 
do this so we vriill turn Ithe page and 
see wihat Capjtain CMover will hear 
about this land many other interesting 
things. When I ihad finlished these 
thoughts, I suddenly remiembeired that 
I was in the first quarter of the twen- 
tieth oentury, where many changes 
have taken place and w.here all who 
are living mow, are living now. I faint- 
ly remiembered that I had blown some 
wind at them, “^the ambasasdlors” near 
the oloise lof the 19 th century and this 
had produced a whirl wind and shook 
them loose. Nothing short of this 
would' have done so' and we have an en- 
tirely new set. For having got a taste 
of high life in Europe they wiould never 
have turned iosse until “the stars felll.” 
Thionght! thought! WhO' can measure 
its metes and boundis — 'every goio'd boiok. 
every machine, everiy great railroad, 
every law, every reform, has had and 
will have its oirigin in the bralini of man. 
But I will not dwelll, sufficient here to 
say my thoughts produaed ilaughter and 
reform and pu^t my frliiends iln good jbbs. 
What more meed any writer wish. Re- 
form! Reform! is all 'the go mow. 
Every poliltidian ouit of a job wants 're- 
form; every railroad man o'ut of a j'ob 
wants the bo'sses refio'rmed; and all men 
out of money want the financial system 
reformed, so that he will gdt more for 
less — and the tide rolls on'. Sbime want 
the Igovernmenlt 'to take 'the railroads. 
Foolish imien to iimiagine a few cold type 
will change the nature of men, make 
them more oohsiderialte, and bring them 
to thait angelic natitonalism land social- 
ism and all other kinds loif isms, so beau- 
tifully pictured by Mr. Julian Wesit in 
Edward Bielllamy’s “Looking Back- 
ward.” Ihdividualilsim maiy be wrong 
bat I shall be for it until somiething bet- 


ter is written .on the subject. I shall 
contend that a man be allowed tO' use 
what is his in a way that shall appear 
best to him. But as we left Oapitaim 
Glover looking out the window on the 
beautiful flower garden lin front of the 
big cotton 'mill we will (take him up 
again. 


CHAPTER V. 

As I have said Ibefore the Manager 
was called out to attend the wants of 
some gentlemen from South America, 
and China. They were merchants from 
those oo'untries, who had some 'big or- 
d'ers to place in the 'Cotton Mill. The 
Chinese gentleman spoke good Eng- 
lish, and I heard him say something 
about the Siiberian Railroad and Alas- 
ka and New Orleans, and making the 
trip in si-x days, 'but as he was not ad- 
dressing me I did 'not pay any special 
attention. I was aJlways too polite to 
poke my nose into the conversatloin of 
others. But the Manager had turned 
me over to a friend, who had just 
walked in. He is 'a mian of medium 
height, and has dark hair, and he al- 
ways talks in a slow and deliberate 
manner, and uses fine language. This 
is Ooingressman W. B. Banks, of the 
Tenth ^Mississippi District, and a sound 
money man, and fills the seat once 
occupied by Gen. T. 'C. Oatchings, now 
(Senator. I had knowu him when he 
was a rising young lawyer, and always 
felt he would make his mark, circum- 
stances favoring him. Success in this 
world in all things is 'a miatter of friends 
and circumstances. He cordially shO'Ok 
my hand, as he had many times be- 
fore, and 'in reply to 'my question con- 
firmed lall the Manager had told me 
■about the political ascendancy of those 
whO' I have named and said to me there 
was much more which it will take time 
for you to learn las you turn the pages 
of this book. 

We then began to chat about the 
great improvements which had come 


40 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


to the would, in the past twenty years. 
I det him talk, as he was always in- 
teresting. He spoke of the great im- 
provement in machinery, and said the 
cotton mill where we were sitting could 
weigh the cotton and wool and make 
me a suit in three hours good enoiugh 
to go to the President’s ball, because 
cloths do not make a man. He then 
spoke of the fast and great lomotives 
making 100 miles an hour oin the great- 
est railroad in the world, and pulling 
twenty and thirty sleepers. He men- 
tioned the “typewriter, the typesetting 
machine,” witn almost human intelli- 
gence; the reaper and binder, the cot- 
ton packer, the phonograph, one of the 
most wonderful machines in the world; 
the gas engine of many horse power, 
and the electric and air mofors. 

Oaipt. Banks, said I, all of those things 
belong the nineteenth century. They 
are great, no imistake, but what have 
you to tell me of this twentieth cen- 
tury. 

Well, said he, I will tell you about 
the election machine. 

Oh ! iSaid I, I have seen plenty of 
those. They are walking the streets, 
day by day, and “iSolomon in all his 
glory was not arrayed like one of 
them.” 

You are off Capt. Glover! Not the 
kind to which I refer, saidi he. 

Then, said I, if there is anything new 
under the sun, in this twentieth cen- 
tury on that point let me have it. 

(I shall here record this Congress- 
man’s words as near as I -can, with a 
brief description of this wonderful vot- 
ing machine. I now give his words:) 

For more than one hundred years 
the question has not only troubled the 
people of the United States, but every 
country on the globe, where men are 
given suffrage. If all that has been 
said and written was put in books it 
is doubtful, if the world’s libraries 
would hold them. Early in the twen- 
tieth century a man, whose name I 
cannot now recall, invented this won- 
derful voting machine. Men come and 
go. Captain, and for a time their words 
and works are forgotten, but whoever 
contributes to the world one new 
thought, or noble sentiment, or one use- 


ful machine, has not lived in vain. He 
has achieved immortality, and will 
never die. This machine carries with it 
all the best features of the “Australian 
ballot law,” as it requires and educa- 
tional qualification, and you must be 
able to read and write, or the ma- 
chine will not work for you. This vot- 
ing machine is a combination of the 
phonograph, the typesetter and photo- 
graph gallery, and cash register. The 
law is brief. You must pay your poll 
tax ($1) before the first day of March 
every year. You then are given a re- 
ceipt. This is your “registration pa- 
per,” and has on it your name, age, 
place of residence and occupation, and 
the day you paid your taxes. On the 
day of the election the machine, re- 
sembling an upright piano, is carried 
toi the polling place, a long roll of white 
wax paper is placed on one cylinder 
and attached to another. There are 
no printed tickets as long as the moral 
law, but a card containing the names 
of the candidates are placed on the 
table, and you enter to exercise your 
iright as an American citizen, to vote 
for who you ' please. (Capt. 
Banks then took from his pockets two 
tickets which had been voted at the 
last general elction.) The man or voter 
walks in. There is a bell before him, 
'like the telephone, but much larger. 
He begins: My name is Frank O’Birien, 
I live in warn twenty, No. 2,875 South 
Avenue, I voted twice for Grover Cleve- 
land, but was sorry for it, I am a work- 
ing man, I am a Republican; I now vote 
for Wm. McKinley, of Ohio, for Presi- 
dent of the United States, and Wm. F. 
Fitzgerald, of Califoirnia, for Vice- 
President, and for sound money. He 
then calls off the electors, writes his 
name on a card that is in a slot be- 
fore him, touches the key before him, 
when, in a second, the machine is set 
in motion. It takes his photograph, 
records his voice, prints his tickets, 
drops one in the box and hands him the 
duplicate. (Here he passed me his 
ticket with picture on the same.) The 
next man. My name is Judge Murray 
F. Smith; I live in ward twenty-four, 
Klein street. No. 1,875; a lawyer; I 
voted twice for old Grover; have not 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


41 


repeinted. I am a Democrat. I now 
vote for William C. Whitney, of New 
Yoirk, for President. (Another Coxey’s 
Army, and more 'bond sales.) This ma- 
chine will vote about four or five a min- 
ute, if they are quick and do not have 
too long- a “tale of woe.” When one 
hundred have voted the machine will 
bind them up in a little package. Wl^en 
the time is up the judges unlock the 
machine and the results can be had in 
one minute. If there is any dispute 
about how a man voted we have a 
promenade concert and grind the thing 
out. There is no need. Captain, for a 
man to be ashamed of his political 
oipinioin. He has the same night to it 
that he has to the hair on his head. 

And this, said I, is the election ma- 
chines of this twentieth century of 
great things? 

It is, said Congressman Banks, and 
if any man can improve on it he is 
welcome to do so. But the writer will 
claim royalty and originality for the 
idea. There is no chance to dodge 
here. The men who votes in this ma- 
chine are like those who- write books. 
It is always evidence against them. 

Yes said I, “oh; that mine enemy 
would write a book,” said old Job of 
old, when wishing for some way to get 
even with his enemiies. But I can not 
see why any man should wish to deny 
his vote. When he is a law maker all 
he says and all he votes for or against 
is recorded. The duties of the private 
citizen is as great as that of the Con- 
gressman or any Other man. This is 
a government of the people. Every 
man, be he rich or poor, high or low, Is 
a part of the machinery of this great 
government. 

Captain Banks then explained to me 
that as these voting machines were 
very expensive they were generally one 
to about every hundred thousand vot- 
ers. That Vicksburg, the city proper, 
had three; that five or six wards voted 
in the same machine; that with these 
machines there were absolutely fair 
elections, and if a man did not get the 
office he ran for he was satisfied that 
not enough of his fTiends said “Hello! 
I vote for John (Murphy for alderman.” 
Many men were disposed to- believe 
fair elections would never come to this 


land, but all things come to him who 
waits and who is faithful to the end. 

He then told me some other things 
about these wonderful voting machines 
that made me believe they possessed 
human intelligence. He said if a man 
said anything about “free silver, 16 to 
1” or “rag money” and “rag babies,” 
that there iwas moaning and groaning 
in the machine that would suggest a 
hot country where men were being fed 
on brimistone. Some times it would 
laugh, and when a Pop voted he was 
always presented with a (big cake of 
soap to wash the green off. C-reat 
things, captain, great things, said he, 
with a big smile. Continuing with this 
problem of fair elections, said this Con- 
gressman, many foolish philosophers 
imagine you can raise the honor of men 
by the length of the law you draw. 
Our old laws on elections in many 
States covered page after page, which 
no one ever read and few understood 
when they did read. Now they cover 
about two pages of our law books. 
Men are not made good by statute 
laws, noir are their opinioins changed by 
that means. There are three things 
that always have had and will have 
great influence with men — seif -interest, 
policy and investiagtion or a knowledge 
of things. What many mien need to- 
day is moral courage, to think and say 
what they think, and why. If you can 
always give a good and plausible rea- 
son for what you believe, you need 
never fear being run over by any short 
horns. But I tell you, captain, our vot- 
ing machine is death to the bus in ess of 
the “ballot-box stuffer,” for no man 
can in any way 'tamper with the machine 
without it being detected. As the 
phonograph parts always moves when 
it comes in contact with the human 
voice, so if you go near it, she will tell 
the tale. And as I have expiained, the 
other parts work by touching the keys 
marked “Democrat or Bepublioan.” 
More keys of the later were touched 
last time. Our elections some times go 
on for three or four days. We never 
have more than one man there, just^to 
give a little instructions' should the vo- 
ter need it; and every one is satisfied 
when the result is given that it will be 
an honest one; and the American peo- 


42 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


pie to a man like fadir play. Any man 
and any party cani stanidi an honest de- 
feat, but no man or no party will al- 
ways stand to be defrauded. There 
are men roasting to-day for their par- 
ticipation in diishonest acts tO' deprive 
their fellow-men of what a majority 
wished him to have. Many thinking 
men are beginning to realize that some- 
thing muist be done to purify the ballot 
box more isubstanitial than the dirag- 
ging out intO' the mire of the noble wo^ 
men of our land. 

This machine has done the work, so 
Congressman Banks tells me. I was 
satisfieid he was right about the matter 
and it will not be referred to again. 
You know now that all the elections 
are fairly held and if you were a can- 
didate and got left it was moi fault of the 
machine, but for the reason that not 
enough of your friends said in the ma- 
chine “Hello! I vote for Grrover Cleve- 
land for a third term.” See! 

As the Manager did not return^ being 
still occupied with merchants who 
bought a large bill and were presented 
with a suit in which they appeared 
that evening, it being a notable gath- 
ering, I continued my conversation 
with Col. Banks. In this day every 
man had a title and you could call him 
Captain. Colonel, Miaijor or Ceneral, 
and you would never miss it! As we 
could mot get up a war with England 
twenty years ago; so that we could 
make a few more officers. Congress 
passed a bill allowing the universities 
to confer the title of an army officer. 
So I said: Col. Banks I know with your 
wonderful voting machiine, which is a 
great improvement over the old two- 
legged affair of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, as much as thei palace car is over 
the covered waggon or th^e railroad of 
the seventeenth century, you now 
have a fair and honest election, but 
tell me do any of these old hayseeds 
ever accuse you of selling out tO' the 
railroads, or the bankers, and the 
gold bugs, a despised insect, just at 
present. 

Oh yes; Captain, they do that yet. 
One charged me wiith geting a million 
because I secured the charter for a 
gre^t initeir- continental raiiilwiay. But 
I will tell you the facts and the truth 


about this matter. Its no use for a 
man in, my positioin toi rush into print 
to deny everything that is said of him. 
Your friends will always believe the 
best they can of you, and your enemies 
will not be changed by your denial. 
But I never got even a pass. But the 
President is all right and a friend of 
mine^ in (fact they were all my friends, 
so I pressed the matter for them in 
the (Sixtieth Congress, without reward 
or the hope of it. They always do us 
the honor of saying that we charge good 
fees. To put us down as a job lot of 
Cheap Johns, would be more than hu- 
man, nature could endure. But this is 
my third term in Congress and I 
have not been able to make any money 
as yet, and I tolld the Attorney 
G-eneral, Oapt. A. M. Eea,, of Miississip- 
pi, that it took all my salary for 
four years to pay the newspapers of 
my District to support me, a.nd to help 
my poor friends home who come to 
Washington City to try to get an ap- 
pointment. 

Why, Col. Banks, said I, you aston- 
ish me! You surely do not mean to 
tell me that a newspaper is for sale. 

Always, Captain Glover. Surely 
you are not an idiot. They are only 
meni, like you and I, and their voice is 
only that of a man, but it is given out 
to the uinsophistocated as the voice of 
the people, and it goes, and that is all 
any man need want. They are all in 
the business for money, whether they 
are Democratis or Republicans. If you 
want their music, you must pay for it 
If you did niot know this before, and if 
you do not believe it, try it. 

(And you 'are here informed that a 
man lives and learns, and is deceived; 
and the longer he lives the more he 
wiill learn, and the more he will be de- 
ceived.) I 

I then .askeid him if there were any 
more new things? To which he replied 
that the flyin,g machine or air shi'p had 
been brought to a certaiin degree of 
perfectiotn, and that the government 
owned all there was now in existence. 
That they had bought the patent from 
John J. Astor, of New York, who made 
a trip to Mars, or the Moon, in one of 

them and who wrote a boiok telling us 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. . 43 


that all the people there wotre siilk and 
satin. They oan fly out of the harbor 
of New York and will carry about twen- 
ty men and oan drop dyinamiite enough 
in ten hours that would destroy more 
ships than Great Britain could build in 
fifty years. Of course under the natur- 
al laws of gravitation everythiing falls 
towards the e'arth. These ships get up 
about five miles, out of the reach of 
the best rifle cannion, and drop a ten 
or twenty pound dynamite bomb on 
the deck of a ship which, when it ex- 
plodes, will tear her half in two. Now 
we 'also have the topedo boat, that can 
stay under water three or four days 
and make fast to the bottom of the 
ship and with her augurs she can flll 
a man of war full of holes. Then they 
can go from under her like a fish, get 
off five or S)ix miles and serenely see 
her sink beneath the waves; that we 
were the only nation in the world that 
had these flying warships and torpedo 
boats and dt was now Impossible to get 
any of the nations of this earth to. go 
to war with the United States. And 
he was going toi introduce a bill dn Con- 
gress to abolish the office of Secretary 
of War and Navy, and also the army 
and navy, and give that money to the 
“Ambassadors to France and England” 
to buy wine with, so that In their ca- 
pacity as the duly accredited' repre- 
sentatives of the greatest country in 
the world, and which to be a citizen of • 
it was an “honor greater than that of 
King,” so they could make a laughing 
stock ef themselves with their fool 
speeches. If they dO' not like their 
country and its laws let them resign 
their commissions. But we are con- 
soiled with the fact that Col. John Bush 
never made a fool of himself when he 
was in Baris, as did some others twen- 
ty years ago. 

He then dropped politics for a while 
and told me that the paper mills of the 
counltry were making telegraph and 
telephone poles and railroad crossties 
out of compresseed paper; that they 
were much stronger than wood and 
would last from thirty to fifty years; 
that machinery had ibeen invenited, to 
grind up the cotton (Stalks to a kind of 
pulp, and the cocklebur was also util- 


ized in the same manner and good pri- 
ces were now oibtained for this raw ma- 
terial, such is the advance of science 
and machinery. Who shall meas- 
ure the bounds it may yet go- to. To 
cap the climax of wonders he told me 
twO' gentlemen, one prominent in South 
Carolina and one in Mississippi, had 
concocted a scheme to keep! men from 
being hung by an angry mob; that he 
did not know how it would work, but 
there was no doubt but what it would 
become very popular with the candi- 
date for the court of Judge Lynch, and 
make its promoters famous. He be- 
lieved the gentlemian who was Attor- 
ney-General in Mississippi before Col. 
O. S. 'Robbins’ heart was in the right 
place but he had a littile too much faith 
in printed laws. He did not seem to 
understand that in spite of all our law 
books which would stall the biggest 
locomotive in the world, our education 
and material progress, men were but 
a few inches removed from 'the savage 
when once their passions were aroused 
The savage till this day dances with 
hellish glee around the form of their 
helpless victimi. I deplore mob law 
myself, captain, being a lawyer, but I 
cannot help but recal the words of a 
good-natured and initelligent Italian 
gentleman some years agO' when he 
was questioned as to his views about 
the mobbing of his fellow countryman 
at the parish prison in New Orleans. 
He said in substance this : That if men 
do not want to be mobbed they had 
best obey the law and behave them- 
selves, and no one would disturb them. 
All this gush and isenti mentality about 
men who were taken from jails and 
mobbed is so much rubbish. Nine and 
three-quarter times they merit it or 
they would not gelt it. Bet men be 
honorable and just and work and he 
true to' their fellow man and their coun- 
try and they will never be taken from 
jail and mobbed, but will die of old 
age and full of honors and years. I 
Was sorry la few days after this that 
we did not have isome kind of law on 
mobs for I thought I was going to get 
it myself. My crime was that I had 
made a good deal of money, “gold 
money” and had Itaken care of it. This 
is a crime in the eyes of some men. 
Col. Banks was very entertaining and 


44 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R, 


I could have set with him for hours 
but the oorbton, mill had iOn hand a very 
imteresting- programme for that even- 
ing though it was Saturday might and 
here the miamager, Col. Bancroft, came 
in again. While the preisident, Captain 
Carroll took the merchants about the 
mill he began reciting the politiical 
prosperity of many of my friends and 
many of the men who are always be- 
fore the country and are well known 
characters to reading men, and among 
other things said that Henry Calbot 
Bodge, promiinent from the Old Bay 
State and a noted literary man, had 
been appointed Secretary of State; that 
President 'McKinley would not have 
any half breeds in his oabinet; that he 
was not anxious to go down in history 
as either a precedent maker or a pre- 
cedent breaker, as was Grover Cleve- 
land. I could have had, right there a 
very interesting conversation with Col. 
Banks on the financial question, for he 
spoke on the matter several times and 
he was well up on the money question 
and knew just how large the library 
of the average free silver 16 to 1 man’s 
was, and what books they contained 
seven of them toeing toy W. H. Harvey, 
of Chicago, and a few remarks by “Sil- 
ver Dick Bland” of Missouri and “Sil- 
ver Jones” of Nevada. I was on the 
eve of going to the hotel with Colonel 
Banks when the manager said he had 
ordered lunch from' “Herman’s Fa- 
mous Restaurant,” and I must pass 
the evening with him. I would be in 
good luck if I got away by midnight. 
The nexit day was Sunday, and I could 
sleep’ late. I am not the first man that 
had toeen gratified that I did not act 
on my first impulse, for I heard some 
very interesting things as you will see 
by reading the next chapters, i^mong 
other things this congressman told me 
was that the railroad men, conductors, 
enginemen and even up to the big of- 
ficers were the finest and toest farmers 
that the country now had, and that 
they made the best crops that we now 
have; that they were all going to 
write books on what they knew about 
farming; that they were as full of ad- 
vice 'to all the other farmers as a tick 
was of blood; he would not exclude the 
newspaper men and banker farmers, 
all without farms, all theoretical farm- 


ers, all theory and no practice. Can- 
noit you see, captain, said he, that 
farmers without farms, and lawyers 
without briefs, doctors without patients 
and railroad men without a railroad, 
and statesmen out of a job, are all in 
the same boat and are the principal 
element of “the Populistic People par- 
ty,” Who will give men knowledge with- 
out study and money without labor. 
But it can never come to pass, it may 
soothe the ignorant and the lazy, and 
may please /the demagogue, whose gas 
bag 'must be ventilalted or there would 
be an explosion. But to repeat, ithere 
can be no thorough knowledge with- 
out study and application and no 
wealth without labor by some one. 
Young man always think of this, when 
you hear a gas mill run toy a Populite. 
I could here dwell at some length on 
this point, and even adimit that many 
fools by virtue of their poisitions lord 
it over their intellectual superiors. 
That many men and women cling to 
the social ibody politic like ’ so many 
parasites, adding nothing to the world’s 
stock of useful knowledge tout passing 
sleepless nights in trying to devise 
ways and means to waste money that 
fiows to them like water gushes from 
the hilbside spring. While they are 
envied by some and fiattered and ad- 
mired and I would not be putting it too 
strong were I to say adored by somie. 
All of this admitted would detract 
nothing from the 'truthfulness of my 
text “that there can be no wealth wi'th- 
out labor and no knowledge without 
study,” the People’is Party and labor 
agitators, orators and writers to the 
contrary • notwithsanding. -The fact 
that those who labor hardest and most 
'do not 'have in many cases the bare ne- 
cessities of life has no bearing on this 
eternal truth. And here the writer 
wishes to say a few words for himself. 
In arranging these notes for the pre- 
ceding chapter I shall find it neces- 
sary to introduce many characters to 
you; he regrets that he cannot give 
them all a leading part, tout you must 
be con'tent with the fact that they 
were all links in the chain of circu'm- 
stances that produced this remiarkable 
gentleman and these wonderful things 
of which you read. When we stand in 
our doorway and see the fast mail and 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


45 


express train go iby, we are prone to 
watch only the big driving wheels un- 
der the engine and we imagine that 
this is all there is of it. 

But we musit noit forget that all the 
small! wheels have their piaoe in the 
economy of oonistruotion and aill in their 
way add to the speed, comfort and safe 
ty of this train. I should not omit to 
tell you that Ool. Banks also' told me 
that it was all on aceourut io<f these fly- 
ing war ships thiait we diiid nioit have war 
with England about that Venezuelan 
piece of land. I knew something was 
the matter foir the war was diiscussed 
in Bombay and miany meni who' had 
money to loan weire getting ready to 
add a little more in old England’s public 
debt. He also told me that the United 
States government had the flying war 
or air ships weilil tested before they 
would buy the patenit from John J. Ajs- 
tor; that the test took place in Bake 
Miichigan, near Ohicago; that a war ves- 
sel was taken out about twenty miles 
from land and a ship was sent out from 
Jackson Park whiere the World’s Pair 
was held; that she took twenty men 
and was gone one hour and thirty min- 
utes, when she returned' and reported 
that the man of war wias alt the bottom 
of the lake. She dropped her bomb at 
the height of six miles: T.hisi event is 
well remembered all over this country 
and put an end to war; there will be no 
war. So with these ob'servationis I v^iill 
ask you to 'read what took place in the 
cotton mill, being a continuance of the 
day’s visit of the Captain tO' his friend 
the manager, where he met many prom- 
inent gentle mien of the city and heard 
many things that were new tO' him. 
Now the reader must not suppose that 
Captain G^lover was an ignorant man 
because he appeared to be surprlised 
when many things were told him; he re- 
alized that twenty years had passed 
and they must necessarily bring many 
changes, not only to the city he was 
visiting, but to the w^hdle world. 

He admitted he had been devoting 
many years to getting money, an en- 
gine of power in ail lands and in all 
ages, and that he had not seen an 
American newspaper for miany years. 
This of course was a great mistake on 
his part; few men would buy South 


Sea enterpises if they “read up.” But 
that he was well equippied to make his 
living w^hen all was swept away will 
be shown). But there is no need for me 
to anticipate for you — ^you had best read 
it and you will adimit that knowledge 
is worth siomething and has’ a mairket 
value. The Captain understood the 
usefulness and power of money, and 
while he often referred to it it was 
never after the style of the demagogue; 
or the free silver artist. With 'a per- 
oapita circuilation -of less than! fifty dol- 
lars in the United States you must 
know that when many have one million 
others will have nothing. He always 
said that a man or set of men: undier a 
corporate name, could do much for la- 
bor, upon the same P'rinciple that a man 
with a good education could write a 
good letter, or a good book or make a 
goo'd speech. But no man: 'wtll ever see 
the time when all men will be equal. 
There will always be 'in this W'Orld 
“master 'and slave.” We do not like the 
woird, but whoever holds lOver us the 
sword Of discharge is our master, call it 
by whatever name you may wish,. 
Why contend and split hairs about the 
name of things, w^heu we have the 
thing itself. The only independenit men 
in this great republic today are our far- 
mers who own their farms and are out 
of debt and have a surplus of their 
products to sell. But their pass-ions 
and prejudices are always being appeal- 
ed to by the City and newspapers far- 
mers., and their imaginations are in- 
flamed ito a blazing point, and they 
are rushing off after strange gods in the 
form of government ownership of rail- 
roads and Eree silver; things that can 
do them no earthly good. What they 
want is the things, to sell and sp-eaking 
generally a good home market. Here 
the writer will give you a .rest on his 
opinions wihich have no -market value. 
But he is a workingman himself and 
has for .some years served a corpiora- 
ti'On- an-d undier 'exceptionally good of- 
ficers. And if -this is a boquet there is 
no string tied to it. He feels like he is 
in. a posiiition to know what he is) talking 
about and makes this statement with- 
out fear of successful contradiction; 

that the farmers’ occupation gives an 
opportunity for personal independence 


46 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


afforded by no o'tlher kind of businieisis. 
But you will be pleaised to niofe tihiat 
siomeitihing' hias' been- done by them -to 
imiprove their condiitio'n: foT Ini the next 
chapiters we wilil gio on 'with the Cap- 
tain and his story. For the Manager 
came in again and began' itelling me 
about what my friends hialdi do he and 
I had an object les*sion of what men can 
do when they put thin'gs on the land 
and not in the newspapers; imaginary 
cotton mills are strictly N. G. 


CHAPTER VI. 

At this point of the Managers conyer- 
sation concerning the political prosper- 
ity of my friends, the bookkeeiper, the 
Hon. Geo. H. Thompkiins, entered. The 
Mianager was goling to introduce me, 
but this was unnecessary, and though 
we had not seen each other for years, 
he reached for my hand and clasped it 
wiarmly. He told the Manager that he 
had just received a oaiblegram by the 
“Western UnAon,” fPom the Sultan of 
Turkey, ordering one million yards of 
white cloth, isuch as is used in the 
South to 'make sacks, and by the United 
States government tO' ship silver mon- 
ey; that he wanted the goods to make 
the army new uniforms. The Manager 
looked up to the ceiling (as though in 
a study, for a few moments) and said 
to Mr. Tompkins, “Reply to the cable, 
the order is accepted, but cannot fill 
for sixty days, 'as we have a large o'r- 
der on hand for the Emperor of Chi- 
na, oin which we are now working; but 
you may wire Col. Ike Barron, Manager 
of the Shreveport Cotton Mills, and 
ask him if he will not take half of 
this order, as we are very much behind 
wiith our orders. And I am expecting 
every day a large order from the Czar 
O'f Russia for woolen goods as they have 
decidedi to give the army two suits in- 
stead of one.” At this point, I spoke 
up and expressed' my surprise at these 
orders from these countries, at the same 
time citing the fact that in 1893 the 
Manager of the Cotton Mills of Annis- 
ton, Ala., (had told me that he sold over 
half of hiis output to'/ China and Japan. 

I knew the Mianager would be 'busy 
for a few moments. I drew from my 


pocket my Railroad King Cigar, price 
one dollar, m'anufactured by Capt B'ob 
Partee, the well known dealer. I did 
not then know the origin of this brand, 
but I was soon to learn it and at a 
time when I least expected it, 
and lin a wlay I least expected. I with- 
d'rew to the window where I could view 
the Man'ager closely and try to see who 
he looked like, for I had seen some one 
whom he resem'bled. Here is his pic- 
ture as strong as words can make it. 
He was a tall m!an, about 6 feet 2 inch- 
es, weight 240 pounds, well proportion- 
ed, with a keen black eye, and had once 
had black h'air that was then consider- 
ably streaked with silver. He always 
smiled when he talked. He wore a 
moustache and chin beard, and in every 
w^ay he resembled the distinguished ex- 
Secretary of the State of Missiissippi, 
somie! years ago. Col. Henry C. Meyers. 
As I looked 'at him I could not but 
thfnk that a thousand men like him 
dires'sed in a fiashy uniform, would 
make the hands'om'est body of men in 
the world, over which ten thousand 
pretty women, would go wild. I have 
seen the Queen’s body guard, all six 
footers, but they are niot so handso'me 
as the mem of America. 

In a few minutes the Manager was 
through with the bookkeeper and came 
to 'my side. I told him I was amazed 
at all he had told me, although I did 
not for a monent doubt him. Why 
should any one? But, said I, there are 
two 'Of these ex- officers that I wish to 
make especial inquiry about; they are 
Col. John N. Bush, the ex- Ambassador 
to Prance and Wm. J. Rea, the ex-Am- 
bassador to England. Both of these gen- 
tlem'en are well known, the form'er a 
handsome and well known lawyer of 
ability and pleasing address, and the 
other, at this time, -a prosperous mer- 
chiaint. I wanted to know how they 
managed to live on $17,500 a year; that 
sbme years agoi I saw in the Uondon 
Thnes that they had all thwatened to 
come home, on account of the sm'all 
pay; that ex-Senator Eustis said he 
would do so, but I did not learn whether 
he did or no't, and if he did, I suppose 
soime other man would be found to take 
his place; as it is very unfortunate for 
th'e striker, in all places, that S'ome 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


47 


other man can aJrwaks be found to take 
his place, at the same pay or less. 

And here I wish to say, Mr.. Banoroft, 
that in England or Iindiia it is impossible 
to keep up with the affairs of the 
United States. Of course I should 
have taken at least a dozen of the lead- 
ing papers of the country, but I did not. 
In that particular the European press 
was far behind the press of America; 
that if the King lof 'Greece had a sore 
toe qur papers recorded the same, while 
the most mom'entofus things in Amerioa 
are not anentioned in those countries. 
I met an Englishman, once in London, 
of fair education, who thought St. Louis 
still in Louisiana, because it was men- 
tioned as a town in the Louisiana pur- 
chase; he also supposed that the Rocky 
Mountaiins, were about one hour’s ride 
in a carriage from that city. Of course, 
said I, continuliing, I consider that a 
big point In favor of the American 
press. That is all, said I, and you may 
noKv answer my question about the Aim- 
ba.ssadors and thelir pay. 

Well, said the Manager, I will be 
brief: When Col. John Bush went to 

Paris he gave the Parisians to under- 
stand that he wasi a very plain man, 
came from a plain city, Vicksburg, and 
that he oame to represent a govern- 
ment that did not give the snap of its 
fingers, for the titled or gilded aristoc- 
racy; that he wias there to represent 
the civil and commercial interests of 
the United States and not tO' lead so- 
ciety; that if the humblest citizen of 
his country was mistreated he would 
hawe satisfaction, in money, if neces- 
sary, and an apology, or he would have 
war. Although the Colonel is not es- 
pecially anxious tO' create a seinsation, 
the first thing that he did was to get 
rid of the livery that cost his predeces- 
so-r $5,01)0 a year, and when he or his 
family 'oh his American’ friends wanted 
to ride he sent to the livery stable and 
got the best they had, and Capt. Glover, 
you know, they have some fine teams 
in Paris. 

Indeed, they have, for I have been in 
Paris many times and have seen them 
and ridden behind them. He also 
greatly reduced the cost of balls, say- 


ing that he could not see, just what 
figure they cut in advancing the com- 
merciiial interest of this country. 

But said I, did not the Colonel lose 
his grip, so to speak? I have always 
understood that unless a man lived in 
a mansion that cost $12,000 to $15,000 a 
year for rent he had no influence with a 
certain class. 

That may: be true, replied the miana- 
ger, but the Coloineil is a true American; 
and he never seemed 'to tire of reciting 
these facts, though it may sound a lit- 
tle on 'the chestnut order, that these 
United States constitute the grandest 
and greatest country in the world, and 
that one^ of her Presidents had split 
iraiils, another had tanned leather, and 
still another had ridden to the Capital, 
hitched his horse to the rack, ascended 
the platform and, dressed in a suit of 
clothes made in his own country, had 
read his inaugural address. This was 
no Hess a person than; Thos. Jefferson, 
the father and founder of the great 
Democratic party. 

Thatiis truehisitOry, said I, and I was 
laJlways an admirer of old Presid'ent Jef- 
ferson. But hO(w did the people of 
Paris take these plain notions of the 
Colonel ? 

Well, said the Manager, there were 
a few sap -head's, b'oth in this country 
and in Paris, who were greatly shocked, 
but of course, Capt. Glover, there are 
always enough good, sensible people, 
in every community to keep the ship 
afloat, and those who had busiiness with 
the Ambassador, continued to come, 
and he got rid of that dlas's whO' com'e 
only to be wined and dined, and who 
have no influence anyway. 

I suppose the Colonel made some 
money out of the job and did not return 
to his native land a pauper, as Ambas- 
sador Eustis said he would fjo, if Con- 
gress did 'hot raise his pay. 

Indeed he did, said the manager, and 
there is no one that I would be more 
gratified to see with money than your 
old friend Col. Bush. 

I suppose what you have said of Col. 
Bush also applies to my old friend, W. 
J. Rea, the ambassador to England? 

It does, said the manager.He said 
the same thing about the English for 


48 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


you know Ambassador Rea does not 
mince matte-rs. 

I felt that the manager had come 
down a little severely on these ambas- 
sadors, for demanding more money or 
they would go on a strike, like poor 
railroad mem or common laborers used 
to do. So I ventured to ask him if his 
attacks on them; did not savor a little 
of Pefferism — ^that I hoped he did not 
admire that class of Statesmen who 
flourished in the fifty-second and fifty- 
third congresses, twenty years ago. 

Indeed I do not, said the manager, 
sympathize with them, but take this 
view of the matter. I was in favor of 
letting the salary remain the same. 
But to digress a little. I am, in favor 
of raising Gov. Pat Henry’s salary to 
$5,000 a year. But to return to the 
matter under discuission, we do not 
send our representativeis to Washing- 
ton or abroad to lead society, for men 
who lead society generally do not have 
time to do anythin, g else, and are ,no)t 
much good any way. Of what earthly 
use in the world was the late Ward 
McAllister except tO' be the leader of 
the New York 400? He looked straight 
in my eye, as he asked this question, 
and seemed to pause for a reply. 

I was forced to admit that I had 
never heard of one good deed, to man- 
kind thaJt had been credited to him. 

This is not all, continued the manager. 
At that /time, that is twenty years ago, 
the United States was passing through 
one of the worst financial troubles that 
the generation haxi ever seen. Mills all 
over the land were closed down; the 
business of the railroads, which are 
good thermo-meters of the times, fell 
off, and the land was filled with tram'ps, 
the national debt was increasing at the 
rate of fifty million dollars; a year, 
many able bodied men could not find 
work, and many were glad to work 
for 50c per day and less to keep the 
wolf of hunger from the door of wife 
and children. Co*tton, the chief pro- 
duct of the South, sold for less than 
five cents per pound, and this was less 
than the cost of production; and many 
of the feurmers were ruined in the West. 
Wheat was less than 50c per bushel, 
and in the face of all this, men who 
claimed to be the friend of labor and 
of wo.rkingmen, and who are ready to 


sit upon the platform and look wise 
and give advice £o farmers, cried out 
that they could not live on $17,500 per 
year. Our Vicksburg men took high 
ground on their action, saying that it 
ill became American gentlemen to try 
to ape European nobility, who have 
no more regard for the poor man than 
they have for the dust under their feet. 
“For ill fare the land to hastening ill 
a prey. 

Where wealth accumulates and men 
decay.” 

Well, said I, I ami proud to know that 
my old home was able to* furnish men 
who could live on $17,500, or at least 
they were willing to try; and if Presi- 
dent McKinley thinks this city cannot 
fill any job he may have at his disposal 
let him try us. 

Indeed they can, said the manager, 
and what Vicksburg cannot fill, the 
State of Mississippi can, for their du- 
ties are nearly all ministerial, and she 
has furnished many men to> this na- 
tion whose fame will live forever. 

At the close of this last remark, I no- 
ticed it was dark, so I rose and began 
to apoligize to . the manager for the 
long time I had kept him; he replied it 
was no* matter. Just then Jim Cham- 
bers, who used to be the well known 
porter at the A. & V. depot, entered to 
turn on the electric lights. The man- 
ager said he was expecting Mr. P. M. 
Harding, the well known President of 
the Delta Bank and cashier of the mill, 
with his assistants. Geo. H. Rigby, J. M. 
Phillips and Sam Nelson, all well 
known bank clerks in the city, as it 
Was Saturday night and pay day. Just 
then all these well known gentlemen 
entered. It was unnecessary to intro- 
duce me, as they all clasped my hand 
warmly, having no doubt heard that I 
was rich, though this may have been 
only imagination on my part. The 
manager turned and said he was going 
to be absent from the city for a few 
days. He had sent a box to the South- 
ern Express office, corner of Clay and 
Walnut streets, and told the agent, Joe 
W. Kendall and the cashier, L. M. 
Hood, to be sure and get it off, as it 
contained suits of clothes from his mill 
ordered by Queen Victoria, for her son 
the Prince of Wales, and his sons; 
they were to be worn at the grand ball. 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


49 


at Windsor Casitle in honor of fhe six- 
tieth anniversary of the ascension of 
the g'ood old queen and the passage of 
the home rule (bill. They had been 
made by the Warner & Searles Co. 
The Prince had wired him through 
Manager Otvens of the Postal, that the 
failure to receive the box would be a 
greater disiappointment than was the 
resignation of Premier Gladstone; be- 
side® his private secretary, W. G. Pax- 
ton, Jr., a well known young man in 
the city had been getting telephone 
messages all day from Manager W. H. 
M'cCullouch and Assistant Manager 
Will Lacy, asking him if he was going 
to New Orleans to give hi® personal at- 
tention to the shipping of the box, on 
the steamship City of Rome, which 
would leave that city early Monday 
morning. He wanted to ship it by rail 
but the Prince preferred ship, as Eng- 
land is a ship country. I wonder- 
ed how he would ship it by rail- 
road, but did not ask. I was too 
busy listening fo' this “knock out” in- 
formation. He went on to say that he 
might leave at 12 o’clock midnight, as 
he had a telegram, from his old friends 
Geo. L. Gurley, John Morris and Chas. 
Gore, all popular passenger conduc- 
tors that used to run trains between 
Vicksburg and New Orleans when I 
lived there before. They had all be- 
come general managers, general su- 
perintendents and big passenger agents, 
all of which was but a proper reward 
for their character as high toned gen- 
tlemen, and by this title they will be 
known when speaking of them. Con- 
ductor John Prichett, who was super- 
intendent of the iSouthern Division, was 
also to be one of the party, and they 
were anxious to have him go, and he 
believed he would do so. As I would 
like to take in the city he would give 
me an order to use his horse and buggy^ 
He also had a fine saddle horse at the 
well known livery stable of Bazsinsky 
Bros., corner China and Walnut streets; 
he would just have his secretary write 
the order so it would includei both; that 
I must try to pass the time pleasantly, 
and when he returned Tuesday morn- 
ing, I must be sure and call again, as 
he was not half through telling me 
about the country. 

While this conversation was going on 
4 


the mill hands were getting their mon- 
ey and departing on the electric oars, 
wihidh were running by the door eveiry 
few minutes. They had great smiles on 
them such as I used to have when I was 
a poor man, myself, and used tO' step 
out of the pay oar, when I had received 
my money from tihat clever gentleman 
and prince of railroad officials, Mr. 
ChaS'. Pattoin, of >the great Q. & C. route. 
It has been my pleasure since my arri- 
val In the United State®, to see by read- 
ting a Cinclninati Enquirer of recent 
date, that this gentleman must ihave be- 
come as rich as myself, and w^hen I 
left Bombay I was worth — but I will 
not say how much; but I have a whole 
fleet of ships “'that pass in the night” 
loaded with railroad iroui and oither 
necessary materials, and as I have the 
charteir, I am going to build me a rail- 
road across Mexico’ and initO' Central 
America, crossing the MissiisSippi river 
at Warrenton., ten miilles souith of Vicks- 
burg. But I have not isprung it on the 
coimm unity, though it will in no way 
startle them for they have S 0 ‘ many 
improvements that they have now got 
used to them; it has become like build- 
ing a fiftcien story building on the 
streets of Chicago. 

I told the manager What I had been 
thinking, as I saw all those well dressed 
operatives leaving, as he had been in- 
terrupted by the coming in 'of Capt. E. 
C. Carroll, the president of the mill; 
also Capit. C. O. Willis, the well known 
banker and a large number of citizens^ 
most of them being State and United 
States officials, including the Attorney 
General, Pat Henry, Governor, and also 
Congressman Jas. M. Gibson. 

I was going to miake my exit through 
the door, when who s'liould I meet but 
Major Lee Richardson, the well known 
hardware merchant. “Why Captain 
Glover, old friend, where are you going 
and why have you not been in to see 
me?” 

I replied that I was going to my room 
at the Grand Central Hotel; that I 
seemed to be running intO' something, 
to which I was not expected. I did not 
wish to 'intrude. 

No intrusion at all, says the Major, in 
his pleasant way, I will stand by you. 
though we fall amiong kings. We are 
only going • to have a little banquet. 


50 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL.R. R. 


a'b'ou.t tbsut box Wte shipped to the Prince 
of Wales. I suppose you knoiw the 
Prince very well, Captain,, asked the 
Major, as you have lived in Bombay a 
giood many years. Oh, very well, saJid 
I. We have had many 'tiger hunits (not 
blind) togeither, anid I a, Iso had some 
railroad interests with him. The Major 
and I walke'd over to a window, while 
the crowd contiinued to asisemble, and 
drawi’ng out one of his railroad king 
cigars, he Invited me to smoke. As the 
Major is very approachable, I ventur- 
ed tO' ask h'im how soon hei would saiil 
for England. That I had uinderstood 
from Maniager Bancroft that Presiident 
McKinley was going to sendi him to 
that coumitry. 

That may be true, Captain Glover, 
but I have made up my mind not to 
take it, the pay is too small, $17,500, be- 
sides I never cared for office any way 
and -I will remain here and let some 
other man take it. 

I applauded this determination of the 
Major’s and them told him that I pre- 
ferred a life of business, to one of poli- 
tics. I then hinted to him that I had 
some big railroad interests in contem- 
plation and would be at his store the 
followng Moinday to see him about the 
same, or he could call on me at the 
Grand Central Hotel. 

Ju^t then, at a signal from the man-. 
ager, the doors were roll led back and I 
found myself In an elegaht banquet 
hall, and there was a fine table spread 
with good thing-'s like Vicksburg people 
know how to do it. Capt. Harry Smith 
was there. Looking over the crowd, I 
saw there were present a number of 
prominent railroad men' — ^Col. I. Hardy,, 
general freight agent of the Q. & C. 
was there, as was also Jas. D. Grant. 
Eisq., his chief clerk; also General Mam 
ager W. Lee Harrison, of the V. & C. 
railroad; his superintendenit., Hugh Wil- 
kins. The former of these was a Well 
known employe of the Southern Ex- 
press Company before his promotion, 
and the Supt. was for many years a 
baggage master on the A. & V. railroad. 

I may as (well say it here, that no' Im- 
portant meeting itn this country seems 
to be complete without one or two' rail- 
roiad men of prominence. The matter 
of transportation in the United States 


has become a foremost one, and What- 
ever helps the railroad helps the coun- 
try, and whatever affects the railroad 
affects the country. In^ fact when the 
United States railroad commission bill 
was before congress, it was said the 
railroiads had it in their power to make 
or blight a city. Asi soon as I saw these 
it wo prominent gentlemen', I walked 
over to themi to renew the conversation 
of a few days before, for I had been 
up to Canton, Misis., with them, in thelir 
private car, when they went up to give 
sosmie i'nstruictio'ns in reference to- the 
transportation of 50,000 head of cattle 
that belonged to Henry Ehrman and 
Pat Kenney, two well known local 
butchers, that had been flattened at 
Kings Point, opposite the city; also 2,- 
000,000 hogs fattened at the breweries, 
and were going to Chicago and New 
York, as the packing houses in Vicks- 
burg had a surplus. As lall managers 
are informed as to where the trafic of 
their road comes from, I asked J. W. 
McWilliams, a gentleman well known at 
the A. & V. depot, where these cattle' 
came from, and was agreeably surpris- 
ed to be told by him, that they had 
been raised in Warren, Hinds and Clai- 
borne counties, and in North Louisiana. 

Ait ths poi'nt of the conversaltiion, Maj. 
Lee 'Richardson came up again and 
hearing us talking on the cattle ques- 
tion, gave me the surprising but grati- 
fying information that the Armour 
Packing Co., finding it unprofitable ito 
do business in the city without becom- 
ing a purchaser of live stock, had sold 
their cold storage building to the lo'cal 
butchers and had built one lof their 
largest slaughter ihouses in the South- 
ern part of the city, and bought yearly 
many thoiusands of cattle, sheep and 
'hogs. This is not all, Capt. Glover, on 
tihe cold storage matter that I have to 
tell you. On Mulberry street, bounded 
by Veto, South and Pearl streets', is the 
largest cold storage warehouse this 
side of Chicago', and it ts conducted on 
a plan both novel and beneficiaJl and far 
reaching in (its results, and I would like 
to tell you alll about it. 

Do so, Mia j or, said I. 

But details, said the Major, are al- 
ways tiresome and I wiill be brief. 
E'irst the plant was bui'lt to help out the 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


51 


ooumtry fa)rmers and th'ey are larg^e 
owners of the stock of the oomipany and 
when a farmer comes to the city with 
dressed pork, or eggs — 

Dressed eggs, Major, said I. 

Fres'h eggs (but don’t get funny Cap- 
tain.) or vegetables or frulils and finds 
the market dull or crowded, he takes 
liis produice to the cold storage ware- 
house where he will receive a ticket 
showing how much he has deposited; 
then he can carry ithis ticket to Allen 
& Son, or S. C. Ragan & Co', well known 
grocery hfouses, who w*!!! make him a 
small advance on the same if he wishies. 
ahd when the market improves he will 
or can reiturn and sell the same, or the 
commission mercihants will sell! for him. 

I am satisfied, Major, said I, interupt- 
ing hilm, that this cold storage ware- 
house of which you speak fills a long 
felt want. In every southern city I know 
the farmers have often been imposed 
upon or made to take less than their 
produce is worth because unfortu- 
nately too many of them came to the 
ciity that day with the same kind of 
things to iseiil. But, said I conitinuing; 
what is to prevent some few merohants 
co'nsolidating their oapitail and buying 
up all the eggs and other produce and 
putiting up the price on the consumierS; 
or in other words forming a kind of 
trust. To this, the Major replied there 
is nothing at all, but after all. Captain, 
this noisie abouit trusts' and comhines 
hurting the farmiers is all moonshine: 
for if the trusts put up the prices, the 
farmers can come in and seill on the up- 
ward miarket and that is what we want; 
something to put up the price of the 
farmiers’ produce. G-etting very much 
interested in this cold storage ware- 
house, I asked how do you maKe any 
money out of it? Why we dharge a 
small fee wihen the goods' are taken 
away. 

Said I, Major, I have some friends in 
Bombay who have some such things 
in contemplation, and asi we do not 
care to gO' into the ibanquet hall for a 
few iminutes, I would Hike toi have you 
give me a short description of the ware- 
house, as I propose writing to them to- 
morrow and may not have time to go 
there for several days. I can get the 
Idea almost as well, I know, from your 


description as 'if I were to see i!t in fact. 
I will see it when you describe it. 

Well; said the Major, beginning slow- 
ly, lit is a large building covering sev- 
eral hundred feet, built of brick and 
lined inside with wood, while between 
the wood and brick walls is saw dust. 
This acts as a non-conductor of heat 
and would naturally keep the house 
cool, but this is not all; there are many 
thousand feet of pipe through the hoiuse, 
on the north side of the cold room 
there is a large tank filled with ammo- 
nia. Then there is a gas engine of 
fifteen horse power nearby; it lifts this 
from the tank and forces it into an- 
other big tank near by. Here it is ta- 
ken up again and travels back to the 
starting point, thus traveling many 
miles in the course of a day. By this 
a temperature is always miaintained of 
about 35 degrees Parenheit. 

Why,, says I, that is on the principal 
of making Ice. 

Precisely; we do make ice. 

Well, said I, did you meet with any 
opposition in the beginning? 

Oh, yes; but I told the people that 
the only way to help the farmer was to 
do something in a praotical way and 
not in having big meetings and high 
sounding articles in the newspapers, 
by those whose farms consist of pen- 
cil and writing pad. 

I believe you are quite right. Major, 
said I, but here comes the Manager. 
I suppose he is after us and we will 
now adjourn into the banquet hall and 
see wlhat we w*!!! have there; but before 
we go in. Major, let me ask if this is 
not a kind of socialism. 

No 'indeed, said he, we simply take 
care of ithe produce and take pay for 
the same. You know Without being 
told that butter, eggs, fresh meats and 
vegetables are perishable, and if the 
market is stocked the price will go 
down, and the farmers are compelled 
tO' take less than they are worth, for 
he may live a long way from the city 
and the exipense oif remaining over is 
liable to consume all he w^ill have to 
sell, and after all. Captain, said the 
Major, prosperity is nearly always a 
local miatter as well as a personal mat- 


52 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


ter. Wihen a mian is doing” well ait home 
he wiill niatuirally oomclude that the 
world (isi moving along all night, and we 
have tried to^ make the peOipile of this 
city and co'unty and of the whole State 
happy anid proispero'us hy findimg em- 
ployment tO' wiilliing labor and r e ason - 
able retumis for the capital invested 
and everything is as lovely as a June 
rose. But, says the Major, let us go 
intO' the banquet hall, and, with this 
remark, he opened the door. I looked 
ini and saw a large crowd' assembled, 
among them' government ofR dials and 
those »who had been in close touch with 
the Presidents of the United States for 
the past twenty years. There were a 
number of mien that I had seen at work 
in the mill that day. I could not but 
reflect back to a few years ago when 
I had attended a banquet in Bombay, 
where the Prince of Wales was a guest 
of the businesis men of that city; not 
a man who sat down to the table was 
worth less than a half million. I was 
there, of course, because the Prince 
and I owned together the De'lhli, Calcut- 
ta and Bombay Railroad, and the day 
of the banquet I rode through the open 
streets With him in an open carriage, 
and afterwards went with him to visit 
the Tiaj. In this T could see the great 
superiority of America over India or 
England. In that country wiithout 
money you are nobody and cannot go 
anywhere, and with It you are every- 
body. I took occasion to investigate 
the subject a little while I was there, 
and I found out to my surprise that the 
bulk of the fortunes 'Of Enigland were 
founded on the English public debt, 
which had its ioriigin in the thirty years 
war in Europe. It was with a feeling 
of horror that in the year 1895, one 
year after I had left the United States, 
that I read in the London Times that 
President Cleveland had sent a mess- 
age to Congress proposing to Issue more 
boinds and the chances seemed to be 
that they would goi on to the extent of 
5,000 millions, thus putting it out of 
the power of the United States to pay 
her debts, whatever might be her re- 
sources yet undeveloped, and making 
a Class' of people who would sap the 
life blood of the country, as they are 


mow doing iim England, whose bonded 
debt now draws over 600 milli'Ons in 
interest per year., I never blame men 
who take the boinds. I speak of the 
mien whO' make those things possible 
ini times )Oif peace. Many big hearted 
men in this country who were the true 
friends of labor looked forward to the 
time when the public debts would all 
be paid and the money wrapped up in 
them and escaping taxation, would 
seek investment elsewhere. I did not 
follow the matter up while in India; as 
I W'as no longer a citizen, of the country 
It did not trouble me. But I Was quite 
surprised one day to get a letter from 
the iSecretary of the Treasury, Col. C. 
C. Elowerree, then at Washlinigton, ask- 
ing me (if I would take the fourth batch 
of- fifty million, which the government 
wanted to sell to meet the deficiency 
caused by drawing out all the gold. 
I do not recall the year, but from the 
way the mianager called over the Pres- 
idents, I think it must have been when 
Eoraker was President. Now a great 
many suppiose that nothing of this kind 
would have happened, but I am here to 
say that it did, and I have the letter 
to prove it. This was not generally 
known in Vicksburg, and as I had great 
admiration for the Colonel, who was 
the efficinet Postmaster under Presi- 
dent Cleveland second term, and fully 
appreciated the fact that he had through 
me. I never mentioned it to the Man- 
ager or any one elise, and this is the 
first time that I have said anything 
about it. I will state, however, that 
I would have taken the entire amount, 
but I was 'getting ready to come back 
to Vicksburg to build me a railroad in- 
to Central America. Durin'g all the 
time I was sitting in one of the Man- 
ager’s private rooms all alone and could 
hear the merry peals of good humior. 
By and by the Manager come and in- 
sisted that I should come out, as my 
hame was on the programme for a 
speech. I told him that I could not 
think of risking myself, without being 
prepared, and I would insist that Judge 
WIilll Voller take my place. The Man- 
ager saiid he would send him to me. 
This was the first time that I had seen 
the Judige since my return to the city, 


THE GREAT ORIENTALUND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R, 


53 


and hie expressed himself as being gliad 
to see me, and ander such faviorable 
conditiorLS, in the city. I replied that 
the delight was mutual, but that my 
reason for sending for him was to ask 
him to take my place as I was booked 
for a speech. 

I am booked myself, said the Judge, and 
much prefer to withdraw in your favor. 

Well Judge, said I, you know I am 
now a istranger in this country and do 
not know what will be pertinent for me 
to say. As some of the speakers have 
already alluded to the box of clothing 
for the Prince of Wales, give me a few 
dots, and ,perhaps, when I get up I 
will be able to construct a speech that 
will do. 

Well, said the Judige, the money 
question is sitilil a subject of debiate, as 
is also the labor question, and the race 
question. If you touch on any of 
those you wiill not be out of line. 

Well, said I, I thought the money 
question was settled long ago, and as 
for the labor questioin that has been 
before the putoldc since Wat Tyler’s time 
in the reign of the Black Prince, and 
I am afraid they w^ill ring a chestnut 
bell on me. 

Indeed they will not, said the Judge. 
All right then, said I; with your assur- 
ance I will risk it when my time comes 
or my name is called. Just then we 
walked into the banquet hall, arm in 
arm, for the Judge is very sociable. 
Then the President of the factory, Capt. 
Carroll, who was master of ceremonies, 
called my name, saying they would 
have a few remiarks from an old citi- 
zen of the city whO' had returned after 
an absence of twenty years, and as I 
had made up my mind not to flinch I 
walked up by his side, when he said, 
“Fellow citizens, I have the pleasure 
of now introducing to you Ciaptain, Olo- 
ver, for the past twenty years a resi- 
dent of Bombay, but who has now re- 
turned to be one of us as he used to be; 
you will now hear from him.’’ 

Friends, said I; I call you friends, 
because I believe you to be so, I have 
been taken a little by surprise in this 
invitation to address you. My friend 
Judge Voller has assured me that I 
could with propriety touch upon the 


money question. All I know is, if you 
want money you will have tO' work for 
it or sell something to get it; or if you 
are a farmer or manufacturer, some- 
thing will have to be produced below 
the cost of production ; of course if you 
are a workingman, you will have to 
render service to some individual or to 
some corporation; if you are a states- 
man, you must render some service to 
the iState or the National government. 
The better services you render the 
more you will receive. Even, said I, 
if the secretary of the treasury, point- 
ing tO' Col. C. C. Flowerree, were to 
coin a barrel full of money for every 
man, woman and child in this city; and 
when you have earned it and it has 
been paid you, you must then save it 
if you can. This is all I know about 
money. As to the labor problem, I do 
not think you need any advice upon 
that subject. This large mill here, 
with its fifteen hundred operators 
whom I have seen paid off and depart 
with smiles to their own. vine and fig 
trees, is the very best solution that I 
know of. As to the race problem, I did 
not think they had any in Vicksburg. 
I understand and from the mianager 
that most of the colored people are 
peaceful and happy; that they have 
good sOhools and that where they de- 
serve the respect of the white people 
'they have it; that most of them have 
ceased 'to take any interest in political 
matters excepit to 'read the papers. 
Returning again to the money ques- 
tion, my friends ipermit m'e to say that 
had you not made all these impirove- 
ments that I have seen, and had you 
not 'built this big factory, there would 
have been danger of your being con- 
verted into that species 'Of knight er- 
rantry that I have often seen on the 
corner of the streets in Bombay, men 
striving to “reap where they had not 
sown and 'trying to gain their daily 
Ibread from the waters on whose crys- 
'tal waves they had cast never a 
crumib.’’ 

I then took my seat. They applaud- 
ed me of course, and my speech was 
published as the reporters for all the 
papers were there. 'Som'e said to me 
afterwards that they had never thought 
of it in that light before, 'but if ever I 
doubted anything in my life, I doubted 


54 


THE GBEAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 


if there was a man in that assembdage 
or in 'this whole world who has any 
brains at all, who sup^posed human 
woes could be cured by a simple bill in 
the legislature or in congress. When 
I had finished my little say and receiv- 
ed thie cioingratulations' of a few' friends, 
I sought my opportunity andi retired 
into one of 'the private rooms. This 
time I walked into the president’s room. 
It was a large, handsome room; there 
was a fine carpet on the fioor; hand- 
some pictures on the walls; a number 
of easy chairs; a sofa and centre table, 
in addition to a handsome desk which 
was set between twoi windows looking 
out upon the broad Mississippi river. 
I wialked over to one of the windows 
and by drawing down the curtain I 
had a fine seat in the broad window 
sill, and taking out my railroad king 
cigar I was preparing to look out upon 
the beautiful moonlight night, for 
which the iSouthland is noted. I began 
to think of my friends in far off Bom- 
bay and wondering if the men on the 
D. B. & C. railroad were thinking of 
me as I w^as oif them. All good officials 
think of ithelr men. I had not been long 
in my seclusion when five other gen- 
tlemen entered the room. Thy turned 
on the electric light.. As the window 
next tOi me was up, fortuinately for me 
they did not think of putting up the 
other window shade. My. first impulse 
was to make my exit and join them. 
Had I done this I would have avoided 
hearing some very unpleasant remarks 
about myself. I will not give their 
namies, because in after years, after 
many ups and downs, it camie my way 
tO' do them all a good turn, and I did it 
and as they will know when they read 
this that I heard what they isaid, they 
will perhaps feel as small and mean as 
I did. I will say for the gentlemen 
that I did not believe then or now that 
they had anything in the world against 
me, but the opportunity having pre- 
sented litself they could not resist the 
temptation to Indulge inthatdittle oecu- 
pation once thought to be the exclu- 
sive right of a womianh-^that is to back- 
bite. A few minutes after they entered, 
the porter, Jim, camie in bringing five 
bottlesi of railroad king champage and 
some cigars of the same brand. I will 
state for the information of the reader 


that this article was $25.00 per bottle, 
and here permit me to say that I was 
always a man of 'temperate habits and 
made it a rule never to drink at ban- 
quets, so that if I were called on to 
talk it would not be done through my 
hat, as did Ex-Gov. Hogg, of Texas, 
many years ago, and as some of them 
did as you will see, when they had emp- 
tied the bottles and lit their cigars and 
began to chat. One asked what was 
thought of C'apt. Glover’s speech. To 
this some one replied that it was the 
silliest thing that he had heard for a 
long time. That the idea of my as- 
serting that a man must work for 
money was absurd. That it was the 
duty of the government to coin or 
print money and loan it to the people 
at one or two per cent., and that any- 
thing was money that the government 
was a mind to call money. I did not 
know who this fwaS at the time, but 
supposed he was a, stranger in the city 
and a Populite. It is useless to add 
that this geintleman may have been 
right according to their platform, but 
his views were' disputed by some of the 
ablest men in the United States and 
Eiurope. As I have said before, I know 
nothing about money, though I have 
an opinion and in spite of all T have 
made and earned in my life it has only 
been a means to an end. When his 
opinion of the most perplexing prob- 
lem of all ages was given with consid- 
erable gusto, another one asked who 
Capt. Glover was. S'everal replied that 
they did not know; that he was a 
friend toi the manager and had only 
been in the city about a week. It was 
reported that he was rich, but they be- 
lieved that he was a big humbug, prob- 
ably a second edition of old Shooko 
Jones. 

It will not be out of place here to tell 
who Shooko Jones was. He was an in^ 
dividual who made his appearance in 
Mississippi about fifty years ago. He 
claimed tO' be a mian of great wealth 
and was going to settle in the city and 
do many wonderful things. He was of 
course welcomed by the people who 
were then anxious, as they still are, to 
extend courtesies to all capitalists. He 
was given banquets and received with 
open arms by all the best people. Time 
Wore on, and Jones did not invest or 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 


55 


open his bank, but he was successful 
iin placing la goo'd many I. O. Uis. in the 
city and finding his doom about to 
come, he fled ihe city. Iif he ever re- 
turned I have not heard of it, although 
his counterpart has. I will digress to 
say that I am not the prototype of 
Jones. I have some valuable schemes 
on hand for this city, which you will 
hear of 'before you are through with 
me, and if they fail, as the best laid 
plans of mice and men, I will still en- 
deavor to be a good honest citizen. 

One of the party seemed disposed to 
defend me, and said among other 
things that he did not 'believe that Cap- 
tain Grlover was an imposter. That he 
seemed to be on good terms with Maj. 
Lee 'Richardson, the president of the 
miill, and also wlith the ex-secretary 
of the treasury, Capt. John B. Matting- 
ly, and in the absenice of proof to the 
contrary he was willing to believe that 
was lall right. Besides, said he, I 
saw in the New Orleans Times-Demo- 
crat that a fleet of ships belonging to 
Capt. Glover have sailed from India to 
the United 'States; that the owner is 
going to build a railroad from the 
boundary of Mexico to the United 
States of Columbia in Central Ameri- 
ca, and that New Orleans or Vicks- 
burg will be the Northern terminus. 
The article in the Trmes-Democrat 
went on to say that ithe promoter of the 
railroad was pleased to learn that the 
government had indorsed the bonds of 
the Nicaragua Canal Co. and it was 
now complete, or he wlould finish the 
canal as a private enterprise. When 
this unknown friend had flndshed the 
other gentlemen began to attack me 
again quite savagely. It iis unneces- 
sary here to say that this unknown de- 
fender made a friend of me, because 
there is enough of human nature in 
me for me to like to hear myself well 
spoken of, and when a man is willing 
to take up for a stranger against whom 
none of them know anything, we are 
satisfied that he has in himi the ele- 
ments of a gooid man. This sign, I will 
add, with positiviness which cannot be 
denied, seldom fails. 

One of the party said that he did not 
believe that I was going to build any 
railroad', for, said he, the Captain has 
been here for a wieek, and he has not 


as yet been mentioned in the papers 
and he has not given any banquet. I 
caught on. to them right here by this 
remark that they were professional 
banquet fiends, who never invest in 
anything themselves and deride the 
efforts of all others. But my defender 
was ready for them, and replied that 
did not amount tO' anything; that some 
years lago, when the Y. & M. V road was 
built, a party of icapitalisits, headed by 
R. T. Wilson, of New York, came quiet- 
ly to. the city, purchased the franchise 
of the odd company, and before the pub- 
lic was aware of it had the road well 
under way. He did noit think much of 
these banqueting railroad builders. If 
men would not come intO' a community 
and make their hoime or invest their 
money until they were fllleid with wine, 
then that was generally the last of 
them. But this did not seem to satis- 
fy them. They continued to claw and 
pick me until, had I been a chicken and 
they hawks, mot a feather would have 
been left. By and by the conversation 
took a new turn and they let me alone, 
much to my gratification. They then 
began to speak of the banquet saying 
that while it was very nice, it wias no 
better 'than the one they gave when 
the mill shipped a box of clothing to 
the President of the U;nited States, 
Arthur P. Gorman, of Maryland. 

What, said I, to myself, has Gormian 
been President. That is a bit of 
American history that I had not heard 
of. But I listened, and from the con- 
versation I learned that some years 
agO', after he had jumped on old Pres- 
ident Cleveland, the Democrats who 
did no(t like this nervy old President, 
elected him. But his reign wias short, 
and he was soon succeeded by Wm. R. 
Morrison, of Illinois, and he by Depew, 
and he by Stevenson. 

O, said I, I am getting it all now. 
But when I reflected that with what 
the Manager had told me these United 
States had had eight Presidents in the 
brief period of twenty years, then my 
feelings of surprise were then visited 
by one of alarm, and I began to think 
that I was hearing of all falling Ron^je, 
for I had in 'the last few days read the 
tale of two nations and not of this glo- 


56 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


rious coumtry. So thinking- that she 
was really as Ibad or worse than these 
men had said, I began to weep for her, 
and taking oat my handkerchief I wiped 
the tears that had gathered in my eyes. 
I began toi reflect that it was mo use to 
weep over hy gones. The future was 
before us, and if alil these men had 
. been Presidenit and had all quit, there 
must be some cause for it, and that 
cause I would know if I lived, for I 
was alwiays an investigator. By and 
by the gentlemen quit ^discussing who 
had been chiefs of the nation and turn- 
ed their attention to finances, a subject, 
that at least one of the party knew all 
about. In this he had the advantage 
of the other one hundred million who 
Willi inhabit the country. At that time 
one of the party said he was going to 
draw a ourremcy bill and send it on to 
Congressman Chas. M. O’Kelley, and 
get him to put it through. He explain- 
ed the bill to the gentlemen and made 
frequent use of the word, “elastic cur- 
rency.” I had never heard of that kind 
of money before, but I had heard of 
Brandon Bank currency. I did mot 
know if it was to be like that or not; 
but one thing I did know if I built my 
Vicksburg and Central American rail- 
road I would not care to take any of 
it for freight or passage. This gentle- 
man urged the merits of the bill for 
some time. The gentleman who had 
been defending me replied that he did 
not believe that Congressman O’Kelly, 
or the Senators whose names I have 
mentioned elsewhere would support the 
bill; that he beiieved before they would 
become the tools of a lot of sharks to 
rob the unsoiphistocated people of all 
they had under the delusion of giving 
them cheap mioney, that there xwas go- 
ing to be high proces for labor and 
high prices for cotton and corn,' which 
would wind up in the end by robbing 
them of all they possessed, they would 
all resign and come home. He did not 
care if some such bill had been sup- 
ported in the Kfty-third Congress twen- 
ty years ago. Besides, said he, such 
bills as that could originate only in a 
mad-house, or in the brain of some 
one ready for it. 

At this remark the gentleman who 


had been talking cheap money fired 
up and asked if he meant to insult him. 
I was sure I couiia hear the cocking of 
a pistol, for when Southern gentlemen 
make such remarks, I used to know 
what generally followed. I loioked out 
the window to see if there were any 
feather beds for me to fall on at a dis- 
tance of about forty feet. I began to 
fear that a gathering called for one of 
the best purposes for which it has 
ever been called in Vicksiburg would be 
disgraced by the shedding of human 
blood and over a matter which most of 
men who idid not read could know noth- 
ing. The gentlemen who. had made the 
remark about crazy people with cheap 
money bills replied that he only meant 
his words in a Pickwickian sense, and 
that as he never took insults therefore 
he never gave them. Then I felt safe 
and made up my mind that if they re- 
mained much longer I would hear some 
very interesting things, for they were 
all smart and good talkers. One of the 
gentlemen said “Let us discuss the mat- 
ter as we would a matter of ancient 
history.” 

Yes, replied one, as we would discuss 
why Napoleon lost the battle of Wa- 
terloo, and what effect it would have 
had lif he had not lost the battle, and 
with this idea in view let me ask you 
why so much money used to go out of 
Vicksburg and Mississippi every year 
for New York. Then we will apply 
your answer to the nation and ask 
why so much gold left the United 
States. 

This question was asked to my wise 
friend. Hirst, said he, we sent to the 
East for cotton goods, because we did 
not have this mill to make them. Thus 
imany thousand dollars is kept at home., 
Hor horses and mules we sent $350,000 
to Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas. 
This is now kept at home, at least the 
greater portion is. We sent to the West 
for corn, hay land meat. Now we raise 
them. Look at this big mill, siaid he, 
throwiing his eyes up towards the ceil- 
ing, and the big cold storage belong- 
ing to ^ the farmers, (this was the one 
the Major had told me of.) This fine 
mill, said he, is making goods that are 
now worn in all countries just as the 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


57 


mills in. New Engilanid hiave done for 
many years. With all of this I am 
surprised at my friend talking about 
his “elastic currency.” 

At this one of .the gentlemen rejoined 
that in .spite of all he had said that in 
many dties where they had all these 
things that he had described in Vicks- 
burg, things were dull and many mills 
were closed. How de he account for 
that? It may be true, he replied, that in 
many cities it is dull for a While, be- 
cause the demand fell off for goods, but 
tbatt is not because we did not have 
your elastic currency, but because the 
cotton crop was too large for the woiHid’s 
demiand and because it had been piro- 
duiced at a greater price ithan it would 
sell for. Consequently there was no 
profit. At the same time there was 
plenty of money in the ban,ks and the 
government had no trouble lin selling 
one million' in bionds for gold. 

Now tihat is the pdint I wish, to get at. 
Why does our gold go to Europe asked 
one of the party? It is noit the scihemie 
of Wall street and other robbers of the 
poor? 

I do not think so, replied the gentle- 
man, but because we owe thiem and we 
cannot say what kind of mioney a coun- 
try .shall use. All tihe countries of Eu- 
rope noiw use gold, and if we wish to 
trade in their country .and buy their 
goiods and pay the.m our debts, we must 
do so in the money thait is current with 
them and will pass, oitherw'ise they may 
not consider the obligations idis charged 
and if these things pile up and we re- 
fuse to pay, we may have tO' figiht and 
our oomimercial honor will be gone. 
Nations, like men, have at times, been 
forced to fight before they can repudi- 
ate. 

Now I was not in this argument, bait 
I could not help but think of the matter 
that passed ithirough my mind wlhlile 
they talked. Two years after I had set- 
tled in Bombay I was slitting in my 
bank When my cashier came in and in- 
formed me that a gentleman wished to 
see me; ithat he had a letter of in.tro- 
duction to me from America. My first 
thought was that he was some' poioir fel- 
low who .wiished to be helped out of the 
country, but I made it a rule never to 
send a man away until I learned his 


business, so I told him to show the gen- 
tleman in. He, after being satisfied 
'that I was Capt. Glover, presented me a 
letter from the well known banking 
firm of Henry C'leiws & Co., of New 
York, saying that he was .authorized to 
place a mortgage or sell a great rail- 
road running from New York to. Chica- 
go. He Stated that ihe only wanted the 
modest sum of $50,000,000. I examined 
his credentials and was satisfied that he 
and they were all right, but a business 
man must be careful, sO' I told him to 
call the next day. I then sent for four 
otiher bankers and stated the matter to 
them and asked is they would go $10,- 
000,000 ea.ch with me if I learned that 
the gentleman wishing to m.ake the 
sale was all right. I explained that I 
did not know much about the property, 
but if it ran between New York and 
Chicago, I knew it ran through an ex- 
cellent country. They all agreed to 
leave it to my judgment so I went to 
ithe telegrapih office and cabled this 
house to know if the letter and man 
were all right. The next miorning on 
arrival ng at my bank I found an. answer 
to my message, also several le'tters from 
the siamie house; so When, tihe gentleman 
arrived I told him it was ailll right, I 
would let him have t.he money, but I 
wished to stipulate that my interest 
must be paid every .six months in gold; 
also that they must considier the prin- 
cipal due any day after one year, and 
as I was going .to lend gold of course 
I must be paid in gold. Thi® was agread 
to, so after ihaving the contract record- 
ed and signed I paid over New York 
exchafnge and took the stock and bonds 
and was virtually owner of the rail- 
road. Six months afterwards my in- 
terest was due anid I wired tO' ge't it for- 
wardeid to me. Six months came again 
and one and one -half millions had to be 
paid us again. I had given 30 days 'no- 
tice before that I would want my fifty 
million, as I had decided to buy the 
Delhi, Calcutta & Bombay railroad and 
it /musit come, so they w.en't ito the: treas- 
ury and got it; that was the time that 
the secretary, Col. Plowerree, wrote me 
asking me if I would take’ fifty millions 
to meet this leak. Of course the Col. 
did not know that I had drawn tihe 
money out, or that it had been drawn 
O'ut for me, be'cause when' a man goes to 


58 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


the treasury amd gets memey they do 
not .ask him for whom it is, as many 
suppose. I Will state for 'the linfoirma- 
tion of the curious that this ra^ilroad is 
the sarnie one that is now presided over 
by ex-Presldent Depew. This may be 
news to that genitleman'— 'that I practi- 
cally owned his railroad but as he was 
President at the time he was busy with 
other matters and did not trouble him- 
self about me. I wiiil noit state what 
the five gentlemien had to say. 

The gentleman who seemied to be the 
one whO' had answered ail the quesitions 
went on to explain ithat a good deal of 
property in the United States was own- 
ed in Europe. First, said he, they have 
a great deal of our public debt, then 
they own a great many of our railroads, 
they own millions of acres of our lands 
in far mis, that is thiroug'h syndicates. 
They own our breweries, they own our 
city property, at least their citizens do^ 
and then we buy a great many goods 
from them; and then the rich people of 
our country travel in Europe and carry 
their gold With them to the amount lo^ 
$125,000,000', and to make a long story 
short, said he, it takes $450,000,000 every 
year ito pay our debts. Of course, said 
he, if we could buy them' out this: money 
would be kept at home. The total 
amount of English and foreign capital 
in the United States in 1894 was esti- 
mated at about $14,000,000,000. Do not 
delude yourself to think that men will 
draw money out and take the risk of 
sending it across the pond and pay 
charges and insurance just for the fun 
of making the government issue bonds,. 
I tell you candidlly, said he, with some 
emphasis, that this isi a condition and 
no/t a theory that we are meeting. 

After this the gentlemen seemed to 
cool down a little, at least the Populite 
did; but he was like Banquo’s ghost and 
would not down and it seemed to be a 
part of his philosophy that ignorance, 
if stuck to, was as good as wisdom. I 
could not help remembering as I heard 
them diiscuss the money question, a 
story I onice heard on John G. Carlisle. 
This was some years btefoire he was s'ec- 
retary of the treasury. It seemis that 
Senator Edmunds gave a dinner and 
among the questions discussed was 
“What do you know about silver.” The 
question was passed until it came to 


Mr. Carlisle, who was eating. So put- 
ting down his knife and fork, he looked 
up and said: “I do not know a d — d 
thing. 

You do not, said all? 

No I do not. 

Why you made a long speech in the 
senate a few days ago which shows 
you know all albout it. 

Yes I did, replied Mr. Carlisle, my 
constituents expected me to do so and 
I did, but the only people that know 
anything about silver, said he, are 
iSenator John P. Jones, of Nevada, who 
owns it all, and John W. Daniels, Sen- 
ator fromi Virginia, who has not got a 
dollar, and as they are not here to tell 
you about it I will have to pass the 
question myself. That gentleman ap- 
peared tOi know all albout silver some 
time since in a speech at Memphis. He 
could have replied that silver had got 
tO' be a commodity, or in other words, 
it had been produced in such large 
quantities that the supply wais greater 
than the demand for it. As a money 
metal therefore it had fallen in price, 
like cotton,, and the best nations of the 
world had gone back on it as a meas- 
ure of values. Whether rightfully or 
wirongfully these were the facts, and 
men had not by any means suffered by 
this as some would have us believe. 
Whether gold would ever be found in 
such quantities as to cause the nations 
to depreciate it as money or a measure 
of values would be going further into 
the field of speculation than it is nec- 
essary to go. It was like theorizing 
on the present condition of the inhab- 
itants of Mars. 

But the gentleman could not keep 
off of me, and then they began to at- 
tack me on new lines. One asked what 
was Capt. Glover’s political opinion? 
Some one replied that he did not 
know; there was nothing in Ms speech 
that would indicate that he had any 
politics and asi as he had been in the 
United States but a short time, per- 
haps, he had not decided which of the 
great parties he would go with, but if 
he was as rich as reported, he would 
be a good fish for either party. 

No;w this was the first time I had 
supposed that a man would have a 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


59 


hance dn. either party to spend any 
pney. I had always supposed that 
principle was everything and men of 
money was ncthiing, and it would be as 
' fooiliish a (business enterprise for a man 
to go into politics to make money as 
if he were to go to Greenland and put 
UiP an ice -factory. 

But said one of the party were you 
not surprised when David B. Hill was 
defeated for President? 

No; I was not, replied the Congress- 
man, (for by his conversation, I had 
learned that such was the position of 
the gentleman who« had been doing 
most of the aniswering and who had in 
the beginning taken up my defense); 
but why did you think he would be 
elected? 

Because he had stuck up so manfully 
for the rich on the income teix. I sup- 
posed of course they would put up the 
money to elect him. 

Why, that is very easily explained, re- 
plied the congressman, he did stand 
up and make a igallant fight for the 
rich, but then you know the tax stuck 
for a while, and they ifelt that they did 
not owe him anything, for when a man 
undertakes to deliver goods and fails 
you are not ibound in morals or law to 
pay him. The poor felt that they did 
not owe him anything, so you can read- 
ily see that his ship was caught be- 
tween wind and water and was wreck- 
ed. I also heard incidentally during 
this conversation that Prof. W. C. 
Stubbs, of Louisiana, well know in New 
Orleans, had made an excellent Secre- 
tary of Agriculture, but they did not 
name the Cabinet. These were all lit- 
tle bits of American history and mat- 
ters of facts concernding the United 
States that the manager had failed to 
get to when the Ibanquet had began, 
but like all men when they get togeth- 
er they could not keep off the money 
question. How could they when every 
newspaper in the broad land had some- 
thing to say about it every day for the 
past two years. The only thing that I 
regreted was that more of them had 
not read the New Orleans Picayune, 
for then they would not ask such silly 
questions as my Populite friend asked 
the congressman; Why the government 


did not pay her public debt, and this 
in the face of the fact that the Secre- 
tary, Col. iC. C. Plowerree, had just 
made a loan of $50,000,000. 

Beoause she has not the money, was 
the Congressman’s reply. 

The gentleman who had asked the 
question seemed to have asked it only 
to dispute it and answer his own ques- 
tion and do as many others do. 

They have, replied the Populite, plen- 
ty of money, and it is only a scheme 
of the bankers to rob the poor. 

My friend, said the Congressman, do 
you have any idea how (much it would 
take to pay the public debt of these 
United States? If you do not, I will 
give it to you in the following form: 
If you were toi take all the gold in the 
Treasury and all there is in circulation 
in the United States, and then get 
more from some mysterious land, cast 
it all into blocks of one ton each, load 
them into the coal carts of the ex-Sec- 
retary, Capt. John B. Mattingly, and 
allow twenty feet for each horse and 
cart, you will have a procession reach- 
ing from Vicksburg to Bovina, Miss., 
the distance of ten miles; now it will 
take sixteen times as much silver as 
gold, and that procession will reach 
from Vicksburg to Shreveport, the dis- 
tance beingi 170 miles. Now, sir, where 
is all this gold or silver to come from? 
This government has not got it. It 
ought to be plain to you that if this 
debt is ever paid, it must be paid out 
of the resources of the future; but we 
hope that when the big railroad now in 
course of construction by the Silver 
Plate syndicate is completed, it will 
greatly add to the revenues of the gov- 
ernment. I know if Capt. Glover should 
build his railroad to Central America. 

There it is again, said I to myself. 
They are fixing to run me up against 
a saw again, but I shall continue to 
believe that my friend, the Congress- 
man, will be able to keep me from' get- 
ting cut very badly. In spite of the 
fact that this accurate picture had been 
drawn of the gold and silver proces- 
sions (taken from John A. Grier’s work 
“Our Silver Coinage”) the Populite 
was not convinced; and here let me di- 
gress to say that it is useless to con- 


60 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


tend and argue with men when they 
have never given the matter sufficient 
thought or read the right kind of lit- 
erature on which they can predicate an 
opinion. NO) lamount of reason can ev- 
er overthrow prejudice, it matters not 
what that prejudice miay be about. 
The Congressmian then proceeded to 
close up on him by telling him that 
he was fearful that if things went on, 
as they had for the past few years, 
he did not believe that there was a 
man, woman or child now living in 
this year of grace, 1915, that wouild live 
to see the public debt paid. Said he, 
continuing, the government is always 
anxious to get all the gold possible in- 
to circulation, and if we have any bars 
of that imetal you can take them out 
to the Superintendent of the mint, 
Capt. E. N. Dorsey, at the corner of 
Wright Avenue and Ohio street, and 
he will reduce them to five or ten coins 
for you. He is a well known gentle- 
man, having for some years coimmand- 
ed the transfer steamer Delta for 
the Q. & C. Railroad. Now this was 
the first time that I had heard any re- 
ference toi a mint in Vicksburg, but I 
was satisfied that there was a mint 
of money to any one who would build 
a cotton and woolen mill like the one 
I am now in, and I am satisfied the 
owners are making money, or they 
would not be spending it in a ban- 
quet like this, giving out Railroad King 
champagne at $25 a bottle, and cigars 
of the same brand at $1.00 each. While 
I was turning these things over in my 
mind the gentleman continued to talk, 
but as they all talked at once I could 
not distinguish much they said, ex- 
cept now and then I would hear some- 
thing about a big Oriental Railroad. 
On this question they referred to the 
fact that Col. Robt. Sproule, for a num- 
ber of years the Assessor oif Warren 
county, and also a merchant baker, 
had made an excellent United States 
Railroad Oommissioner, when A. E. 
Stevenson was President, also this 
fact — that Capt. E. McLawrence, the 

well known passenger conductor for 
many years of the A. & V. Railroad, 
would make a good Secretary of Trans- 


portation, as it seemed settled that 
President McKinley would appoint him. 

I also learned from their conversation 
that this was a Cabinet position and 
wondered why the Manager had not 
alluded to it when he was speaking of 
the different Cabinet positioins which 
had been given out to Vicksburg be- 
fore, but then I suppose it was a new 
office, and that he had been interrupted 
by the time having arrived for the 
banquet to begin. But all things must 
have an end, and these gentlemen’s 
conversation ended by the Attorney 
General, Col. O. S. Robibns opening 
the door, and saying that everybody 
was requested to ooime to the hall, as 
Judge Voller was going to 'Speak. I 
did not aJbsent myself, because I did 
not think the Judge would be able to 
say anything to interest me, but be- 
cause I wished to analyze alll I had 
heard. As they walked out I wished 
to see who that was who had been tak- 
ing up for me and had given my Poipu- 
lite friend such a rap. I was satis- 
fied for some time that I knew his voice, 
and as he walked out, I was gratified 
to see my old friend, Jas. M. Gibson. 
He is a tall, handsome man, a lawyer 
of considerable ability, and is known 
all over the State of Mississiippi, and 
now resides in Houston, Texas. I step- 
ped quietly over and locked the door 
and returning to the window, lighting 
a fresh Railroad King cigar, I began 
to think over all I had heard. One 
thing that surprised me most about 
the conversation was that none of them 
had any allusion to what the farmers 
ought to do, and here permit me to say 
that when I used to be the General 
Manager of the Delhi, Calcutta & Bom- 
bay Railway, and would carry a party 
of friends over the road with me and 
they would look out of the window and 
see the big wheat fields (and cotton 
fields also) for they raise cotton. In 
India, they would always have some- 
thing to say about what the farmers 
ought to do. Of course I was no ex- 
ception to the balance, for say what we 
will, folly is more or less contagious. 
When I was coming over on the city of 
Paris, from Queenstown to New York, 
there were two young gentlemen who 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


61 


r 

ii^iiaJde their living- lat Monte Carlo, and 
iiniany timies they treated us to soma ad- 
ivice for the farmers in Eng^land and 
BYanoe. In the sleeping oar between 
I New York and Chicago there were some 
; “bloated bondholders” on the train, 
and I learned from their conversation 
I that their fathers before them had a 
I large shoe of the English public defbt. 
That was before the United States gov- 
j ernment bonds had got to be so plen- 
' tiful, and they had some advice for the 
farmers in New York State, and for 
j the railroads also. They said that the 
farmers ought to raise more hogs and 
cattle, as though men could live on 
j meat alone, and the time was near at 
‘hand when men and women would go 
clothed in nothing but leather. Thus 
; I have found out — that in all climes 
and all countries, and in all cities I 
have ever beien, there is no trouble to 
! get all the advice you want. The Uni- 
ted 'States Was been short a few times 
j on gold and many of her citizens have 
■ been a little short on silver, but they 
have never as yet been short on advice. 

! But this conversation was so free from 
anything of that kind that it affords 
' me ipleasure to record the same, but I 
! could not but believe that the farmers 
t of Mississipipi must be in a great deal 
; better way financially than they used 
; to be twenty vears ago. The statement 
‘ of General Manager Harrison about 
; the 60,0000 head of cattle and of Major 
Uee Richardson about the coild storage 
assured me that was why they had not 
, been mentioned. 

I then took up one other part of the 
conversation. Why was It that so 
^ many men had been president? And 
why had not the manager told me of 
the Democrats as well as the Republi- 
canis. It must have occurred to him 
that I would find it out, but (it was plain 
to me then las it will no doubt be to you 
that the manager was a very strong 
J partisan. Now I do not dislike a parti- 
san, be he a Democrat or Republican, 
but I do not like one of the type that 
tries to (impress you with the idea that 
if his views of party are not successful 
the country will sink. There was one 
other weak place of this oonversation. 
I never heard any allusion to the labor 


problem, and I 'begun to think there 
was none and that the wish of my life, 
that is, to solve it, would be gone. It 
seems that all I could hear was of the 
rich, and thinking of all I had heard I 
began to almost despise the name of 
riches. Of course I knew that the ex- 
planation the manager had given me 
about the cotton mills and how the ope- 
ratives owned so much of it had to 
some extent solved the matter so far as 
the labbr of Vicksburg was concerned, 
they were also interested in many of 
the other factories of the city. 
I had some plans on hand in ref- 
erence to the labor probleim on 
the railroads, which disturbed 
the United States about Chicago in 
1894, the same year that I left Vicks- 
burg. Some one at the time suggested 
Eugene V. Delbs for president of the 
United States, but if he cannot make 
a better showing he will never make a 
good candidate, but if I did not believe 
in the practical lapplication of my views 
and when my “Vicksburg and Central 
American Railway” is completed, I 
would almost be tempted to wish that 
the fieet now en iroute would go to the 
bottom of the sea, and that, too, with- 
out one dollar of insurance. I used to 
/think that if I had imoney that was all 
a man would requiire, ibut I have since 
changed my mind. The possession of 
money often puts you (in a position to 
be attacked, and by and by you lose 
all regard for everything but money. 
You are liable to become cold and cal- 
lous and ten chances to one you will 
not have a friend in the world. You 
will have plenty of men and women 
who will perhaps tolerate you for what 
they think ithey can get from' you, but 
it will not be that friendship which 
flows spontaneously and which like 
charity vaunteth not Itself; so my jud- 
ment to working men is to never envy 
the rich or those who are seemingly 
high. You do not know the 'heart-burn- 
ings that are often trield to be quelch- 
ed with money or position. These 
thoughts were brought forth fromt the 
remarks which had been made con- 
cerning my wealth. I then began to 
think of what the manager and' the 
gentlemen who were having the side 
banquet had said coneming the cabi- 
net officers. I was beginning a plan of 


62 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


reasoning which I sthought would over- 
throw all the manager had told me. 
That it was simply impossible for all 
these men to have gotten all these po- 
sitions. The majority (were not known 
outside of the limits of their city, 
though some of them were known all 
over the Sitate; they were too obscure. 
I made up my iminid that the manager 
had simply taken advantage of having 
me 'all alone lanid knowing that I was 
always pleased at the suecess of my 
friends had imposed on my good na- 
ture, knowing that I had been in the 
city but a few days. 

I explaineid to- him when I came down 
this morning that I had taken a little 
ride up to- Canton with Gleneral Man'a- 
ger Harrison, but the balance of the 
time I had passed in my room over- 
looking the details about the building 
of -my railroiad. That I met -a few old 
chums but our iconversation was on 
light topics. We had not broached any 
subjects as heavy and big as cabinet 
positions. I there and then made up 
my mind that the -manager was a sec- 
ond edition of Baroin OVEunchausen; but 
before I clinch this let me reflect a lit- 
tle. It (is possibly true -that these ex- 
gov ernmemt offl-oials were unknown 
until they were brought out by 
some president and put in his cabinet. 
Before I left this country I used to 
read a good deal and I imust confess I 
never heard of the gentleman who was 
secretairy of the interior in old Presi- 
derut Cleveland’s carbine t the second 
term. This will apply to the secretary 
' of war. He had only a local reputatioin 
as his former secretary; not however, 
to the 'Secretary of State, who died in 
office. But his conversion will go 
down in history 'like that of St. Paul’s, 
not for sins, however, but for -revenue 
only. !Say nothing of the dead but 
what is itrue or good. These facts as- 
sured me that what I had heard is 
true and I was satisfied that they 
would -make as good ones as many be- 
fore them, for good faithful -employes 
on the railroad make the officials; re- 
gard and dbeidience to the law make 
the presidents and all others, for you 
can never itell what (there is in a man 
until he lis tried. I then looked out 
again on the beautiful moonlight night 
and saw the great Mississippi river 


moving majestically to the sea. I 
knew it must be late and was surprised 
to find it was 11 p.m. I walked out of 
the president’s room; into 'the mana- 
ger’s where I had left my hat -and cane, 
and not meeting anyone except the por- 
ter, and bidding him good night, and 
lighting (my cigar I stepped into (the gar- 
den in front of the building and then 
into the street from the Vicksburg cot- 
ton and woolen mill. The electric cars 
were -still running, but I preferred lo 
walk, so all alone I proceeded to the 
corner of Washington Boulevard and 
Belmont Avenue. There was an ex- 
cellent play at 'the theatre that night 
on the corner mentioned. I believe it 
was the “iSilver King” (no»t free) as 
they 'Charged to see -the play. I stop- 
ped for several miinutes and saw a 
great many of my old friends coming 
out. I then walked out Belmont to the 
iron -bridge and crossed into the park. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

CAPTAIN GLOVB'R IN THE PARK 

Their e was som-e'thing unuisual going 
on that night in the park land though 
it was nieairfly -midnight the people 
seemed loth to go. The Volunteer 
So'Uthiroins Biand was (Still playing and 
Prof. Prank J. Pish-eir, a we'll known 
gentilemian 'of (the city was still leiad- 
ing (them. Tlhen there w-as la nulmb'er 
of young boys i'n th'iis iband wh (0 were 
babies when last I saw themi. Riclhard 
G. Grooimie, a well known fellow towno- 
man., ihad four so'ns (there, land I saw 
'two (bioys who were (the isoins of o-ne -of 
my -old boy'hoioid aslsio'ciates, 'now go(ne 
to the great beyond. Wm. J. K-atzen- 
mieyer a-nd hi-s birioither Jake. The boys 
■of the band, somie thl:r(ty in number, 
s-eemed pleased 'to 'see me and though 
thiere wiere r'eaidy (to- go the leader 'sug- 
gested (that they p-lay -one 'more tune 
in honor lof Oapitain Glover, who wias 
an -odd friend. It is- unnecessary to 
say that (this co-miplim'ent -was highly 
appreciated, and as I look back ito the 
ti'm-e I believe it was the sweetest mu- 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL' AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


63 


si'C I htave ever ih-eard, lamid beoausie of 
its source the more lappireoiated. Tihe 
evening’s enltertalinimieinlt was thein lan- 
nounoed as lover and the people de- 
parted rapidly and in a few moments 
I found myiseilf laill alone ;iini Ithe park. 
I seate'd myself umder one of the tirees 
and loioke'd out Oin the harlbioir before 
me. The wiillows fhad aill disappeared, 
las I have imenfcioined befiore. Capitain 
J. H. Williard, I the well known Umited 
States civil engineer, had torn them all 
out by the irioiolts when he was the isec- 
retary of war in President Depew’s 
cabinet. I had never diouibited for a 
moment that that genitlemian would do 
all he could for the hiairbor of Viioks- 
burg when ihe had the power, and I 
hope he wiiill isoon have the pohver again, 
and as I know Presidenlt McKinley 
very well aind he knowls me also, I will 
see him' about this little matter as soon 
as I get (the details lof my railroad 
complete. As I 'have said ibiefore, the 
hight was lovely and objects of all 
kinds were v/isible for a long distance: 
not a cloud a's large as a mian’s hand 
W'as seen in the starry hieiavens; the 
wharf was crowded with sihiips and 
'Steamboiats and Where De Soto island 
once stood, several big wiarships polnlt- 
ed their huge guns toward the dity ; but 
■their miission, fortunately for all was 
peace. I looked ait the islhips and by 
counting them 'satisfiied myself that it 
was the “WiMte Squadron, for I had 
heard the gentlemem upon whoise con- 
versation I had been forced (to become 
an eaveisdropper, say that Captain J. 
J. 'Hiays, the well known steamboat 
mian, would take dharge of them and 
miake a pleasure itour of the world, that 
Col. John Walsh, the well known alder- 
ma.n of the city, would aocomipany h'imv 
that Capft Scott Phillips, also a well 
known comimander of steamier s on tihe 
Mississippi, would command one of ithe 
vessels, that Capt. A. M. Dea, the well 
known lawyer and a gentleman who 
served the country as Uniteid States 
Attorney Greneral in the oabineit had 
said there would be no real improprie- 
ty in their doing so, if the isecretary of 
the navy was willing, and he had ex- 
pressed hiimiseif in favor of it, for the 
reason that the governmient was at 
peace with the world and there was 
no real reason why the gentlemen iof 


the navy should not have a good tim'e. 
so long as Unicle Sam would piay the 
bills. 

While I sat there reflecting over 
these good things which had come to 
my friends, a cloud seemed to settle 
on my mind and my vision became im- 
paired for a few moments, and I felt 
the horror that comes to a man, when 
in a dream he feels about to be carried 
over a steep precipice. I bounded im- 
mediately from my seat and felt my- 
self over, particularly my head, to see 
if I was really awake. The vision of 
(trouble ahead seemed to linger with 
me, and in spite of the fact that I got 
up and walked about I could not shake 
it off. Why should I be worried said I ? 
I am rich, but somehow I am not hap- 
py as I used to be when I was a poor 
man. I have now reached that haven 
which all men seem to think one of un- 
alloyed joy. I used 'to think that all 
rich men were happy, but I do not be- 
lieve they are; unless they have good 
health and true friends. I believe I will 
write to my ibankers and tell .them they 
need not send me anything but give it 
to some charitable cause. The fifty 
ships with their cargoes, is all I need. 
I used tO' think I was the most charit- 
able man in the whole country and 
now that I am rich I have the' best 
chance in the world to prove it, but 
some bow I idislike to part with my 
money. lit is nice to have people know 
■that you are rich and the .world is of- 
ten cruel and^ hard to the poor, no mat- 
ter how deserving or intelligent they 
may be. My opinion on all things is 
now a legal tender and I am now a 
considerable authority on all (things 
temiporal, although I have no more in- 
telligence now than I used to have, 
when I drove a dray on (the streets of 
Vicksburg. 

But it is useless to cite these things 
or coimplain of them; it has ever been 
SO' 'and ever Wiill be; but what is the 
matteir with me? thought I. My mind 
is all confusion and excitement. I 
have been down .to that baniquet and 
though the Railroad King champagne 
flowed like water I did not touch a 
drop, and if I ami a rich man I worked 
for it. I will go down tO' the Glrand 
'Cen'tral and go to sleep and so take 
nature’s great remedy for the troubled 


64 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


miin'd. I slowly descended the broad 
stone .steps leading to the Washington 
Boulevard and, quietly made my way 
to (the hotel. It was 1 a.m. when I en- 
tered and I found myself physically 
and mentally worn out from the day’s 
exertion and all I had seen and heard. 
After requesting the clerk not to allow 
me to be called, and saying that I 
would ring when I w'ished anything, I 
stepped into the elevator and was car- 
ried to my suite of rooms on the sixth 
floor. I added that he might send up 
my mail and the morning papers about 
10 a.m. I fell across the bed and being 
fanned by the gentle breeze from the 
great river I was soon unconscious of 
all the great world about me. 

When I awoke I saw by the shadows 
of the sun on Baer & Bros. — 21 story 
building— (a great dry goods house) 
that it must be late. The church bells 
of the city were calling the people to 
the houses of worship, and the chimes 
in the Catholic Cathedral were playing 
too. It seemed to mie the sweetest mu- 
sic. I had ever heard from them. I 
called the bell-boy, who wias passing, 
and told him to have the clerk send me 
up my mail, and also my breakfast; as 
the Hotel was European as well as 
American in plan. When I had sus- 
tained the inner man I again locked the 
door and prepared to look over my 
letters and papers, which were the ac- 
cumulation of several days, as I had 
not done much, but go about the city 
and have a good time with my friends. 
I will now read the Morning Commer- 
cial Herald and the Post. I saw, as 
soon as I opened it, that I had gained 
my reward, for there was a long ac- 
count of the ibanquet and my speech 
in full and a most complimentary allu- 
sion to myself, saying that I had some 
railroad schemes in contemplation that 
would be of great value to the city and 
that I was talking of building in the 
city a big factory for the making of a 
grade of cloth, in which cotton bales 
were now wrapped; that it had been 
many years since jute bagging had 
been used in the cotton States; that 
it took three million bales of cotton to 
wrap the crop; that no farmer in the 
South would wrap his cotton in any- 


thing but that article. The article 
went on to say that a gin had .been in- 
vented that sent the cotton out in 
broad bats, and the bales were a;il 
round, like a barrel, and when tied 
with wire were smaller than compressT 
ed bales and were greatly preferred 
by railroads and steamships for trans- 
portation. The article closed by say- 
ing that lOapt. Glover was ten years too 
late for an enterprise of this kind, as 
the city had one where the old or lower 
Compress stood down on the river; but 
perhaps he could buy out some of the 
stockholders las having made so much 
money they were contemplating a trip 
to Europe over the Great Oriental Rail- 
way. Now where these newspaper 
men got hold Oif this inf'orm,ation 
about me I am unable to say, but they 
must have been mind readers; for I 
did have just such a think in my mind, 
and was telling Major Lee Richardson 
about it at the banquet,but my idea was 
to make all the cotton rope that was 
used in Mississippi and Louisiana; for 
the indefaigable worker and Presi- 
dent of the Board of Trade, Hon. Louis 
Hoffman, told me he sold tons of it 
every year and was obliged to get some 
from the East because the .big factory 
was kept so busy making a better and 
more profitable grade of goods, I 
should have known this when I re- 
membered that box for my friend, the 
Prince iof Wales. I then read the so- 
cial columns of these papers; also the 
invitation to the worldly to come to 
church, which you see I, like many 
others, was neglecting — I looked over 
the Cincinnati Commerclail and the St. 
Louis Gl'obe-Democrat to see what they 
had to say about President McKinley’s 
appointing Judge A. H. Leonard, of 
Shreveport, La., Secretary of Transpor- 
tation in his Cabinet. 

I then took up another paper. This 
was one that had been left by the col- 
ored people, who hearing that I was in 
the city, had left their paper for me. 
The name was very suggestive — “Turn 
on the Light.’’ Fifty years of freedom 
and the light of civilization had made 
great changes for the better among 
this down trodden race. The paper 
was a very handsome one. In point 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R, 


65 


of workmanship this did noit siurprise 
me much, for twenty years 'before I 
was shown a catalog'ue of the Alcorn 
University, by one of the members of 
the Board of Trustees, a prominent 
planter of Louisiana, who took great 
pride in this institution, and every cut 
was made at this school. I saw the pa- 
per was well edited by Dir. C. Henri 
Woode and Prof. B. P. Shannon, the 
well known Principal of the colored 
public schools of the city for many 
years. I was glad to see that the peo- 
ple Oif the city were disposed to help 
the colored people along, for the Man- 
ager had told me that he did not doubt 
that the patronage of the colored peo- 
ple of the city to the merchants, news- 
papers and railroads was worth at 
least $1,500 per day, estimating there 
number at 30,000, and their wages at 
50c per day; as they did not go to any 
seaside, except the great inland sea; 
the Mississippi River, and to no 
springs, except Spout Springs, five miles 
north of the city. They worked, earn- 
ed and spent all of their money in 
the city. Looking over the paper I 
saw there was a long account of the 
dedication of the Home for the aged 
and infirm north of the city, together 
with a cut of the buildings and the 
grounds. The article said the G-overn- 
or, Pat Henry, had recently delivered 
an address to the colored people, as 
had also Oongressman W. B. Banks. 
This, I thought, was right, because the 
Governor is the (Governor of all the 
people, rich and poor, and without re- 
gard to creed or color. Then there wias’ 
a long list of those who had contribu- 
ted to the consummation of this pur- 
pose, and I saw the names of nearly 
every prominent man and firm of the 
city and the State. Now I have seen 
the peasantry of many lands, and those 
I have not seen I have had truthful ac- 
counts of, and I am prepared to say 
and believe that the colored people of 
the South are better liked and better 
disposed and better treated than peo- 
ple of similar means and conditions 
anywhere in this world. 

Ida Wells, of Memphis, Tenn., may 
write all the books she may have the 

5 


talent for; she may go over the land 
and deliver all the lectures she wants 
to, but the negroes’ best friends today 
are the Southern people, who know 
him best and whO' put up with and ex- 
cuse short comings, which those who 
have always seen and known him from 
afar, as Job’s warhorse smelled the 
battle, will not do. 

I turned the paper over and noticed 
an editorial complimentary to myself. 
There has always been in me a fair 
amount of vanity as* there is in all 
men, and I always preferred the good 
will of all, to the ill will of any, and 
recalling to mind, the falble of the 
lion and the mouse I laid the paper 
down. 

I then opened my letters. The first 
was from my bankers in Bombay and 
contained a check for a small amount, 
$100, saying that it was all they owed* 
me, as under instructions from me 
when in London they had paid the 
exchange for the fifty ships, and their 
cargoes of railroad iron and other ma- 
terial for the construction of my Vicks- 
burg and Central American Railroad 
(for which I have the charter and all 
other necessary franchises) through 
Mexico and to Guatemala City, which 
will be the southern terminus. Had 
any one told me then that this $100 
was all I possessed in this world I 
should have consideredi him a fool, yet 
such was the case, but I had not as yet 
come to the evidence of it. How often 
in, our short career in life we are near 
a great danger and are not aware of it. 
I once said to a man in Bombay, who 
was very uneasy about the yellow fever 
and was thinking of leaving the coun- 
try, that if he could tell me of a land 
where old Father Time would not at 
last mow him down, I would like to 
know its whereabouts. But to return 
to my letter: It went on to say that they 
were thinking of coming to the United 
States, and would like to hear of Vicks- 
burg; that the goviernment of India 
was going to start a mill to grind out- 
elastic currency, and they wanted to 
get out of the country b'efore the crash 
came. Of oourse I would, after all I 
had seen and heard, advise Messrs. 


66 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


Browning & Co., the well known mil- 
lionaire hankeirs of Boimibay, to come 
to Vicksburg, for never in my life when 
I ha'd lived there before had I advised 
any one not to come to that city, but 
I have told many I thought under 
similar circumstances they would, be as 
well off in Vicksburg as elsewhere, 
though I am not much (addicted to. 
giving advice, and it is always cheap, 
except when obtained from lawyers or 
doctors. 

The next letter I opened was from 
the Young Mien’s Business League of 
New Orleans, La. This letter was very 
seductive and plausible, setting forth 
at great length the advantages of New 
Orleans land asking m'e to miake that 
city the beginning of my railroad into 
Central America. This cannot be 
thought of for a momient, said I to my- 
self; while I like that city and her peo- 
ple very much, Vicksbuirg is to be 
my home; the decree has gone forth 
and if I have anything on hand that 
will in any way help her in her on- 
ward course why she will get it. The 
gentlemen who wrote this letter said 
they would send a committee to see 
me if the letter did not accomiplish 
its mission; such a course would be 
useless, and I will have to write them 
a polite letter to that effect, I began to 
dictate a letter to my former bankers, 
also to the gentlemen in New Orleans. 

I looked up to see if my Secretary was 
taking it down; for to tell the truth, 
I thought I was in my raiHroiad office 
in Bombay and not in the Grand Cen- 
tral Hotel of Vicksburg. Just then 
the bell boy came in, handing me a 
letter and a paper, saying they had 
been overlooked by the clerk of the 
Hotel in sending up my miail. These 
were the things which oast there shad- 
ows before, changed my title and all 
my plans for the future, and made me 
sad, in spite of the fact that I haid been 
to the banquet where I met Governors, 
Congressmen and ex-Cabinet officers. 
.My hand trembled a .little as I tore the 
envelope and as I began to read the 
type written* lines I seemed to be going 
blind, I strained every nerve tO' go over 
the terrible news that it bore me. It 


was from a well known lawyer in Baris, 
who said he had just received informa- 
tion from Gibraltar that my fleet of 
ships had gone down in the Mediter- 
ranean Seia; that he was sorry to have 
to inform me that there was no insur- 
ance; that my lawyer at Bombay had 
wired him that he had been called to 
Calcutta to defend in a murder case 
and his clerk had permitted the fleet 
to sail without taking out a policy. 
I knew it must have been his clerk 
without his telling me, because lawyers 
do not neglect their clients, at least 
good ones do not. At this point I was 
so overcome with this calamity that 
had overtaken me, that I reeled from 
the chair land fell heavily to the floior; 
I must have laid many hours upon the 
floor, for when I awoke it was dark in 
the room, but the moon was' beginning 
to shed its light upon the city. During 
the time that I was in a semi-concious 
condition the most fearful panorama 
passed through my ' mind. I saw my- 
self deserted by all men, and could see 
big cartoons of myself, with wind bags. 
I could see no ray 'of light, though I 
reached up and turned on the electric 
light. 

I was glad, to know I was alive and 
feeling the muscles of my arm, I felt 
strong enough to( whirl the sledge ham- 
mer in Pat Foley’s boiler shops. There 
was still one letter unopened, but I 
could scarcely And the courage to look 
in it. At last I tore it open also. It was 
from the Prince of Wales, saying that 
he was sorry tO' liearn of my misfortune, 
and that he had taken steps to keep 
the matter from being cabled out of 
Europe. I looked at his letter and saw 
that it was not over flve days old. How 
had it reached Vicksburg so^ soon, was 
the question? But I will not at pres- 
ent trouble myself about that— it is 
here and I am thankful to the Prince 
for his action in the matter, but I be- 
gan to realize that I was a poor man, 
and still in the best Hotel in the South 
and under contract to pay $200 per 
mcnth for my apartments, associating 
with Bankers, Congressmen and Cabi- 
net officers. I began to think how, 
when I left London the Prince of Wales 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 


67 


had 'begged me to remain a citizen of 
his country, saying I should have my 
choice of the Queen’s Dominions, and 
as I was irich I could become virtually 
a king, but that desire which seemed 
to prevail all over the civilized world, 
to come to the “land of the free and 
the home of the brave’’ had triumphed, 
and I had come and now all was lost. 
The railroad that I was going to build 
from Vicksburg to Central Amerioa, 
and of which I was to be the Piresident 
and General Manager, and with which 
I proposed to solve the labor question, 
notwithstanding that ex-Senator Wade 
Hampton, United States Railroad Com- 
missioner and a man with a fine salary 
and nothing to do declared that the 
standard of wages seemed to be fixed 
by Providence and nothing could be 
done to help the workingman, or words 
to that effect, in an article in the North 
American Review twenty years ago; 
and now this wish and dream of my 
life had become as iimpossible as It 
would have been for me to be elected 
President of these United States on the 
Farmers’ Alliance ticket in 1896. 

I began to 'reflect what might have 
been had I carried out my first thought 
to telegraph the New York Exchange 
from the Bank of France and England 
and purchase 'my railroad Iron in Penn- 
sylvania and 'Alabama. But I was a 
citizen of England and ilt appeared 
plainly to be my duty, as it is every 
man’s, ito purchase the manufactures 
of the country where he has miade his 
money, for by this and this alone can 
the plants be made to pay dividends 
and the workingmen earn wages; and 
my friend, the Pfince of Wales, had 
suggested that I miight not meet with 
the receptioin I iso fondly anticipated 
and I could return 'and we would build 
us a railroad from Delhi, India, ’to St. 
Petersburg, Russia, via the Caspian 
Sea Ito Moscow. 

While in London, I incidenitly heard 
that a party of capitalists some where 
in the United States were going to 
build up to the Behring Straits, tun- 
nel the same, or had done so, and go 
thence 'to St. Petersburg, and my plan 
was to connect our line with them. My 
ships could lay in the harbor of Liver- 


pool until I looked about but, sad to 
think, they all went 'down near Gib- 
raltar, off the coast of Spain. The 
Prince also said if 'I found everything 
favorable I could perhaps 'sell the ships 
to the governmient, some for war and 
others to carry Ithe mails between San 
Francisco, China and Japan. He used 
every 'argument he could think of when 
he fo'und I was determined to' return to 
Vicksburg to get 'me tO' buy the fifty 
ships and their cargoes, which repre- 
sented several millions, you will see by 
referring 'to R. G. Dun & Go’s. Comer- 
cial Agency; but the heir lapparent is 
no exception from all the E'nglish peo- 
ple who want to sell the United States 
all the go'ods they can. They consider 
us good custo'miers. When I was in 
Mianchester buying up a good many 
goods fo'r my fleelt the Labor Journal 
of that city came out in a long edito- 
rial oomiplim'enting' me for this act, 
saying that Captain Glover wias with- 
out doubt la true friend to the working 
men and labor, and though he was 
leaving India, perhaps never to return, 
he Was ihelping the working 'men of the 
country by the purchase of railroad 
iron from (the rolling mills in sufficient 
amount to construdt a big railroad 
nearly one thousand miiles long, to say 
nothing of the ships themselves, some 
of which had just come off the docks. 
The editor of that journal had been at 
one time a citizen of the United States 
about the time that Grover Cleveland 
was filling his secoind term, and he 
seemed to be “up to snuff” about things 
in America, and the conduct of her big 
men; and he did mot forget to mention 
this fact, that though that gentleman 
shed copious tears and bewailed the 
conditions of (the working men in the 
United (States, and how he was being 
robbed by the rich manufacturers, and 
that he wrote divers and sundry letters 
on the subject 'and would not be com- 
forted, 'as 'Soon as he was safely landed 
iin the iPresidential chair, m'ade up his 
mind that the manufacture'rs should 
not be put in a condition to pay their 
men better wages, if the withholding 
of his patro'nage could do any goo'd, so 
wanting a carriage for 'his family he 
sent over to England and got it. Per- 
haps he (thought the carriage makers 


68 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


of his CO uni try laire not as S'killed as 
they are in Elng^land, but I think they 
are, and If ithey are ubt, thiat is noit the 
way to make them so, taking the work 
from them and sending it off to foreign 
lands; and on that /point let me ask, 
ho'w are the manufacturers of the coun- 
try going tO' pay any better wages, or 
any wages at all, if the merchants of 
the land are not going to buy their 
goods of them. How would my friend, 
the manager of the cotton mills in 
Vicksburg, make any money if all the 
mer chants of Ms city would boycott 
him and send to New 'England for their 
goods, as they used tO' do? The case 
is so plain that “he who runs may 
read.” To have a nice city with good 
streets, the people must quit denounc- 
ing the city council as a lot o/f people 
like those lonoe driven' out of the tem- 
ple, but 'rather let them walk up to the 
city hall, accost my old friend Abe. 
Kiersky and pay their taxes, instead of 
trying to kick thei istars out of the heav- 
ens when they are mildly requested to 
settle. Tio have nice stores they m'ust 
patronize the merchants of their city 
instead of sending to Chicago' for their 
shoe strings. 

But I digress. This same editor 
seemed to know a few things abo'ut the 
gentleman who was Vice-President 
with Benj'amin Harrison, and after- 
wards Governor of the great State of 
New York. He was also supposed to 
be a great friend of Aimerican work- 
ing men, but when he got to be gov- 
ernor of New Yo'rk he seemed to think 
that the country did not have a man 
of sufficient skill to drive his private 
carriage, isd he imported him one from 
England. A great fuss was made about 
it at the time, but Eevi P. had money, 
and he won at last. The editor went 
on to say that isuch friends of laibor as 
these mem ought to be treated to a good 
do.se 'Of Mollie iMaguireism aind ducked 
in the Atlanti Ocean. I do not know 
what these gentle’men thought of this 
article, but I know they saw it because 
I cut it out and marking it “Personal” 
miailed it to them from; Man Chester. I 
know they read it, being post-marked 
England, because they are both mash- 
ed on English 'carriages and English 
carriage -drivers. 'But, said I, getting 
up from the table, where I was reflect- 


ing, all this can have no bearing on my 
case, which .is now one of desperation, 
and I only memtion it to show that the 
working men. are not all fools, and they 
will not be again .duped into support- 
ing such men for some good office un- 
der the delusion that they are the 
friends of labor. 

Taking up the letter again I read 
slowly the words “no insurance.” I 
could not help thinking that had this 
been in Vicksburg 'my friend Randolph 
Buck, the well known insurance agent, 
never would 'have let that fleet sail 
without getting a policy on those s'hips. 
(Not the ones that pass in the night, 
but the ones that are at the bottom of 
the sea.) Neiher would my friend, Ex- 
Governor Bob Wilkerson, a young man 
well known in ithis city, ha.ving been 
born here, and lalso in the insurance 
business. But it is useless for a man 
to grieve over by-gones. Time that is 
gone is gone' forever, and ships that 
have sunk with railroad iron aboard, 
and no insurance, are 'also lost forever. 
I trust my experience will b'e a lesson 
to all, but I will take steps to-night to 
stop it for a while from being maide 
public. The lesson is to attend to all 
impo'rtant miatters yourself and not 
trust to oithers and to carry insurance 
even if you have to sue to get your 
money. But you can always compro- 
mise, if you have any thing to compro- 
mise. But here I am giving advice. 
Thank heaven, however, it is not to 
farm.ers. 

I then looked at my watch and was 
surprised to And it 10 p.m. I wonder 
why I have had no visitors to-day for 
the first time isince I arrived in the 
city. Perhaps it has leaked out that I 
am a bankrupt; and yet I have known 
bankrupts who did not seem to lose 
their grip with people they did not owe.. 
I wonder why Major Lee Richardson 
has n,6t been up to-.day. Then I remem- 
bered that he told me, that as Gov. Pat 
Henry was in the city he and Post- 
Master General Will. MIcLaurin would 
go over to HelM, La., and. have a sail 
on (Sienator W. C. Pegram’s privafe 
lake. The iSenator and the PostmaiSter 
General are well known lawyers and 
good friends of mine. But it will no.t 
do to silt here all night, I: might as well 

make up my mind tO' try to do some- 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


69 


thing. A man must Work, beg, or else 
sponge on his friemds. Work I never 
feared when I lived in ithis city before 
and to sponge oin. my friends is too dis- 
homorable to think of for a moment. I 
believe I will write to my old friend, 
George L. OMcOormack, a well known 
gentlemen who was for some years the 
chief clerk to Superinitendent W. W. 
Bond, of the A. & V. and V., S. & P., 
division of the great Q. & C. I see in 
the 'Cincinnati Enquirer that he has 
now bonght himself a railroad called 
the “Cincinnati, Chicago & Manitoba. ’ 
I am- sure he will do somiethrnig for me. 
I also see isomething in this same piaper 
about the Silver Plate Syndicate and 
President Pete Coppage, a gentleman 
well known as the Chief Train Dis- 
patcher at the A. & V. depot twenty 
years ago. The article said something 
alb out his road running south out of 
Cincinnati. Surely it oannot be the 
“Cincinnati Southern” of the Q. & C. 
And I thought again that perhaps these 
good friends of mine might be together 
having a good 'time in New Orlleans, 
little dreaming of (the great distress of 
mind that I am in at present. My re- 
lations with them may be ohanged for 
all time to come, who can tell. The 
smallest things In life fix our dooni. 
And this is no small matter — ito be sud- 
denly hurled from wealth and power to 
poverty and otbscunty. Certainly not 
to the mian concerned, however little 
we may give thought to the troubles of 
others. But I must do something; so 
I will touch this electric bell for the 
porter. 

No, said I, biefore I do that I will read 
this other paper. I then tore oft the 
wrapper. I opened it and found it to 
be “The Voice of Labor.” To my 
amazement there was a big cartoon of 
me Oin the front page. I was repre- 
sented as a big bond holder an'd before 
me crouched on their knees were a 
number of men with the most woe-be- 
gone look. On their brows was writ- 
ten the words labor. A big sword in 
my hand was ibranded “the weapon of 
capital” and I was portrayed in the act 
of cutting off the heads of the woe^be- 
gone laborers. I oould fee'l a cold per- 
spiration gather on my brow, while 
I stodd riveted to the floor. Misfor- 
tunes never oome single handed. Not 


only mus^t all my moiney be swept away 
by shipwre'Oks, but I must be misrep- 
resented to the world in the miost 
shameful manner. 

I used to think cartoons were very 
funny, but my opinion on that subject 
has changed as it has on many other 
things. To be photographed is all right 
but to be cartooned is all wrong, in 
my judgment. Just at that time I 
heard a very unusual noise down on 
China street just below my window. 
As I had not yet read the paper, I sup- 
posed there was a call in it for the 
workingmen of- the city to assemble 
and proceed to hang me. I stepped for- 
ward and pulled down the window cur- 
tain that they might suppose I was 
gone. This act may appear to be one 
of cowardice, but I am no coward when 
I am given an equal chance. I fear no 
living man, but “Fools rush in where 
angels fear to tread,” and any one who 
has* ever seen an angry mob bent on 
mischief knows how unruly it is. There 
is no reason in them, nor do they give 
their victim any time to reason. Sure- 
ly, thought I, my friend the manager, 
had not deceived me; there could be no 
real anarchists in Vicksburg. Had I 
not seen the Park full of gay and hap- 
py people? Had they not the big cot- 
ton mills, the Vicksburg and Canton 
railroad, and many other manufac- 
tures all over the city? The manager 
had told me that there were at least 
10,000 people employed at good wages, 
many fine streets had been made, not 
hy prison labor, but by free labor, and 
many hundreds of dollars must have 
been distributed among the working- 
men. This state of affairs ought sure- 
ly to have made the working people 
peaceful and happy. But then I re- 
called the fact that Chicago, with its 
fifty railroads, and its hundreds of 
miles of fine streets and boulevards, 
had a goodly crop of anarchists as late 
as 1894, or twenty years ago, including 
a governor very much in sympathy 
with them. Man is a strange creature! 
The more he has the more, he wants, 
and if every wish was a diamond of 
great value he still would wish for 
more and envy those who could wish 
with more rapidity than himself. 

By and by all seemed to be quiet and 
I began to flatter myself they had made 


70 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


up their minds that I was not in the 
hotel, but had gone over to Delhi, La., 
to have a sail with the gentlemen whose 
names I have mentioned. I then made 
up rny mind that if my old friend. Cap- 
tain John Groome, who has been the 
efficient city marshal for the past twen- 
ty years, had got wind of them, that 
he had sent them on their way. I then 
concluded I would read the long arti- 
cle; it could be no worse than the car- 
toon and all the troubles that had 
come to me since I had awakened at 
10 o’clock on this ever memorable day. 
I cannot now recall all that they said, 
for I have seen many bright and sun- 
ny days since that time, as have all 
the people of this city. The editor 
went on to say that Captain John B. 
Glover, noted bondholder and railroad 
manager, and builder of Bombay, had 
arrived in the city and was stopping at 
the Grand Central; that he had stolen 
all he had from the workingmen of 
India; that it was reported he was 
going to build a railway into Central 
America from Vicksburg or New Or- 
leans; that he supposed he would want 
men to work for fifty cents per day, as 
he was reported to have said that 
ninety cents per day was too much for 
any laboring man’s work; that there 
was great danger of his getting rich 
and troublesome with such big pay: 
that he had been seen a good deal in 
the company of the prominent railroad 
men and bankers; that the workingmen 
of the city had best look to him; that 
he was a czar in disguise, and that it 
would be well to call a meeting to pass 
a few resolutions and to invite me to 
leave the city. 

Now had the reporter of this paper 
called on me he no doubt would have 
gone away with a very different im- 
pression of me, for I know the power of 
the press, and I never refused them 
an interview, no matter how busy I 
may be, for I am prepared to say that 
no man in the world has ever had more 
sympathy for the struggling poor than 
myself, especially with the unemployed 
in all large cities. And yet to me it 
always appeared like trying to put a 
whale in a tub to do nothing but pass 
laws about them, while the rich and 
well-to-do continue to put their money 
in government bonds and leave the 


poor to be taken care of by that excel- 
lent order composed of the noble women 
of our land, the “King’s Daughters.’’ 

I am not speaking sarcastically of 
these people, with whom for the second 
time I have cast my lot; for as I told 
the manager the first day we met, I 
never had been satisfied a day since I 
left America. I am also satisfied, 
knowing as I do, that they have done 
the very best they could, and when 
you see all I have described and shall 
hear about things which will surpass 
“Mahomet’s dream of Paradise.’’ They 
will not be in the poor condition that 
I am now, since my ships went down. 
When I was living in Bombay I used 
to have some friends who called regu- 
larly and told me every time they 
came that Bombay had more mean 
people in it to the square foot than any 
place on earth, although I was satis- 
fied they were doing better than they 
ever did in their lives before, but pa- 
tience one day ceased to be a virtue 
with me, so I called my porter and 
sent to a book store and got a big map 
of the world, also one of the city. I 
then told them I wanted to make them 
a little speech, and I would use the 
map to assist me. I hung it on the 
wall and taking up my walking cane 
I then went on to show them how big 
this world was and how small a part 
of it Bombay was; and if they were 
not satisfied they could emigrate, for 
England is a free country; that to prove 
to them I was in earnest I would buy 
what they had in lands, except their 
interests in the city or country (be- 
cause I did not think they had any or 
they would not always be kicking and 
grumbling.) I then told them that I 
would write to the president of Chili 
and see if I could not secure for them 
“Robinson Crusoe Island,’’ as that gen- 
tleman was a great friend of mine and 
wanted me to come to that country 
and build him a railroad or go in with 
him. He got the assistance from some 
of my friends as I learned some days 
after. 

This little speech had the desired ef- 
fect on them, as I hope it will on some 
others, for I never heard any of them 
complain again in my company. It is 
a never failing rule when a man is 
mean and selfish himself, that he will 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANI^^CONTINENTAL R. R. 


71 


measure others that way on the prin- 
ciple that a drunken man will insist 
that every body is drunk but himself, 
or crazy people that every body else 
is crazy, or like the Populite, who will 
say that Alexander Hamilton and all 
the illustrious leaders knew nothing 
about money, and that he alone has 
the key to this situation. Strange to 
say, however, he always demands a 
good fat office before he will give up 
and wants the office in advance. 1 
think they are all crazy and I do not 
believe I would have any trouble in the 
world proving it. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

I had a long chat at the hanquet with 
my old friend Capt. Joihn B. Mattingley. 
He told me he could have solved the 
money question if he had wanted to. 
when he was the Secretary of the 
Trea;sury in the Presidency of Julius 
C. Burrows, but he knew that some 
one would come along and try to rob 
him of the honor, so he took his pay 
and let Oongress fight it to a finish. 

“As Carlisle and Cleveland did twen- 
ty years ago, “I suggested. 

“Precisely,” said the Captain, and he 
laughed as thougih his sides would split. 
He went ion to say that some men 
thought that the discussion of the year 
1895 would be the last of the money 
question, but they were mistaken, for 
there would always be miore or less 
agitation on that problem; that wben 
the Demoorats and Rep ubl loans did not 
have the matter up the Populist 
would; that it was always more or less 
before the country, and would be, as 
long as some men had money and 
some had none. 

But, Captain, said I, you should not 
have dropped your solution, and if you 
will agree to tackle it again, I will see 
the President for you, although I learn 
you have declined the office, but if you 
get into deep water I will throw you 
a line. Now I will be honest with you, 
Captain, said I, talking in a low voice, 


for what I do not know about national 
financers is not worth knowing, but 
for goodness sake don’t give it away, 
the President may want me to 
take a job in his cabinet and I could 
not afford to give up my railroad plans 
and make a martyr of myself for my 
country for only $8,000 a year, so I am 
going to do like you did — ^decline the 
honor; that is if you say anything 
about my knowledge of those things. 
The Captain did not know anything 
about the sinking of my ships when 
we were talking, neither did I, so I 
promised him if we hit any good coal 
mines in Mexico or Central America, 
while I was constructing my railroad 
I would let him handle, them as' he has 
been in that business since he came out 
of the Cabinet. I then asked him about 
my friend. Col. John N. Bush, as I 
did not see him at the banquet. He 
told me that the Colonel was writing 
a book for the future use of amibassa^ 
dors to France showing them how to 
live on the pitiful sum of $17,500 per 
year; that he believed Will Rea, ex- 
ambassador, was helping him. As I 
now recall these things I regret the Col- 
onel did not furnish me the data and 
let me do so, for having failed in all 
other things, I, perhaps, might succeed 
in that line, but it is a terrible risk to 
run, for you have to run a gauntlet like 
the boys in my* school days use to play 
“bull pen,” and as they have the ball 
hidden and you cannot tell which one 
of the boys may not like you, and may 
hit you hard, so iels I have great admi- 
ration for these two old friends. I be- 
lieve I will go and see them, and advise 
them not to attempt it. But here I am 
again thinking of giving advice, but 
it is all right, so long as they are not 
farmers, and with this, I again broke 
from my reverie and looked at my 
watch, only to find I had passed thirty 
minutes in this line of thought. But 
it is wonderful how soon men forget 
their woes, I used to telll them that, 
when old man Cleveland was President 
and I was a better prophet than I sup- 
posed I was, for they have forgoitten all 
about it, and I learn that a good many 
Democrats have been elected to of- 
fice in the past twenty years, notwith- 


72 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


standing the statements that the party 
was dead. Niever put an opossum in 
your pocket, ibecauise he appears to be 
dead, for he may fool you when you 
reach for your toibacco. 

I had forgotten all about the paper 
and the cartoon and the fear that came 
came over me when I heard the nodse; 
so beiing a little more coimposed I took 
up the piaper again and looking at that 
part in referenice to the wages I would 
want ito pay for work otn my railroad. 
The -editor said I would only want to 
give fifty cents while the rate now 
was sevenity-five to ninety cents a day. 
Now the truth is, for that class of la- 
bor I am In favor of $1.50 per day, in 
spite of ithe gold istandard, or any other 
standard, for I do not see how work- 
ing men lare going to escape the poor- 
house on much less. I was horrified, 
when one day looking over the records 
of English factory hands to see that 90 
per cent, of them died in the alms- 
house. When I decided to go out of the 
banking Ibuslnesis in Bombay, for the 
reason that the newspapers lit into me 
nearly every day, anid the general man- 
ager of the India Central Railway 
troubled me to death for money to run 
his railroad, I conicludied to buy it my- 
self. So one day the Presiidient came 
in to borroiwi some money and I told 
him I had as well buy him out if he 
would sell. We agreed on a price, and 
in. one hour I wias the general manag^er 
and half owner of the “Dehi, Bombay 
& Calcutta railroad,” and the Prince of 
Wales was the owner of the other 
stocks and bonds. 

In the northeirn part of India, near 
the city of Delhi, on the banks of the 
river Jumna, stands the “Taj of Agra. ’ 
This Is the most magnificent memorial 
tomib on earth, and the most beautiful 
building in the world. It was built in 
the sixteenth century by Shah Jehan, 
one of /the wise rulers of India, in the 
memory of his wife, and they rest 
therein. It took twenty thousand men 
seventeen years to build it and it cost 
in our money about $20,000,000. It is 
of white polished marble, and the top 
of Its dome Is 139 feet from the g-round. 
I have seen lit a thousand times and 
it was always new to me. I have seen 
it by sunrise, sunset, midday and mid- 
night, lit up by the moon and stars. 


and now by electrioity. It is worth 
going around the word to see. Many 
times have I sat and gazed upon it un- 
til my mind was paralyzed in wonder 
at the mind that conceived it and the 
hand that executed it. Though I have 
a fair commiand of language I could not 
describe It. You cannot describe a 
dream, and the most vivid imagination 
could, not comprehend, though you 
should use teni thousand of the best 
words in the Einglish language — you 
will have tO' go and see It. It will not 
cost you half what it did me twenty 
years ago. Whatever may have been 
the condition of the “Hindoo” a little 
over one hundred years ago, when the 
East India Company began to trade 
with them until a chain, metaphorlcaly 
speaking, was hound about them and 
their country taken from them and 
the Queen of England made the Em- 
press of India, I could not say; but 
there was a time when they led the 
world In the beauty of their architec- 
ture, as that tomb and many other fine 
buildings will abundantly testify. No 
savage brain could have given birth to 
so grand a m'odel. Some few of the 
Princes of India have a nominal power 
as yet; but it is like looking upon 
mouey on the bank counter — you do 
not own ;it. They have no more power 
in the affairs of the country than do 
the negros of the South. England’s ex- 
cuse for all of this was that it was nec- 
essary to bring these people under the 
influence of religion; that the princes 
were in “silk and the people in rags.” 
It was no different (there from what it 
was in England or here. You will And 
virtue in rags here and vice in silk at- 
tire. When it comes to giving out 
plausible excuses for wrongs, I will 
guarantee that the Englishman and 
the American can lead the world. It 
goes here all right to impose upon oth- 
ers, but how it will be with uis in the 
wind up I am not prepared to say, 
when the time shall come when the 
matter shall be weighed in the balance 
to determine as to whether we shall 
'listen, to ithe heavenly choir or flght the 
Are. Neceissity! Necesity! Religion! 
Religion! What wrongs, oppressions 
and crimes have been committed in thy 
name. But these people are too far off 

to interest us much. I should have left 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


73 


it out, only it is now customary to al- 
ways discuss thiingis of wihiich you know 
nothing. So I concluded I would meii- 
tioni a few facts to left you see (that the 
people of Engtand or the United States 
were not the only ones who ever had 
any sense; and do not think that they 
do not know they were trapped by the 
English governiment. 

I wish to tell you of my great railroad 
while musing here to determine what 
I shall do. When I have any troubles 
it always relieves my mind to write 
them off, for it seems to me as if I had 
lived a thousand years since I have 
learned I am again a poor man. It is 
true I have my education and my ex- 
perience left; but the country is now 
over run with smart men. My hair 
seems ten shades whiter when I look 
in the glass, than when I arrived. Oh 
poverty! poverty! the curse of so many 
men, I never imagined when I had 
money that I carried the world on my 
shoulders as did old Atlas. No one has 
come to see me today. With this I 
bowed my head upon the table. Just 
then some one tapped on my door and 
not wishing any one to think I had any 
trouble I said come, and in walked Ma- 
jor Lee Richardson. 

Why Captain you in all day? 

Yes, Major, I have a little bad news 
and to amuse myself and get it off my 
mind I have been writing some notes. 
You will see they are all in shorthand. 
I have written my experience while in 
India and some since my arrival in this 
country. 

What are you going to do with them. 
Captain? 

I do not know. Major. I have no as- 
piration to become an author. Major. 
It may sound like a book, but remem- 
ber I have been in here all day and 
alone. I then read him off what man- 
uscript I had by me. This was to keep 
him from asking me any thing about 
when I would begin work on my rail- 
road. I did not care to tell him of the 
loss, and it is best to get out of telling 
a lie when you can. You will rem,em- 
ber I had quite a chat with the Major 
at the banquet at the cotton mills, and 
he wished to know what I thought 
about the box to the Prince of Wales 
and how the workingmen got along — 
if as well in Europe as in this country, 


and what kind of railroads they had. 

I replied that that Prince was no bet- 
ter man than he or I, only he was a lit- 
tle' more before the public gaze. But 
of course it was great progress to be 
able to make goods in this country and 
ship them to the crown heads of Eu- 
rope. Some people think. Major, that 
a suit is not fit to wear if it did not 
come from England. As for myself I 
always believe that the United States 
would lead the world soon in every- 
thing. We have the most intelligent 
labor in the world, and this is sure to 
tell. As to the poor. Major, they get 
on badly every where; there are so 
many of them; and they are on the in- 
crease in all the large cities of Europe 
and America. I think a great deal of 
their troubles can be traced to vice. 
It always seemed strange to me Major, 
why the city which always furnished 
so much that is comfortable in life, 
should furnish the dark side of it. As 
to the railroads, there is but one in the 
old (world that compares with Jthis 
country, and that is the one I owned 
from Delhi to Bombay. The people of 
this country think they get poor ac- 
comomdations for their money, but. 
Major, the colored people of our coun- 
try get better accommodations than do 
the rich of Europe; because they are 
not there. 

He remarked that there was one rail- 
way in this country, in this first quar- 
ter of the twentieth century, that he 
felt sure was fully equal to the one I 
owned in India or that I contemplated 
building into South America, and he 
was interested in it, as was every man 
in the civilized world. I did not ask 
the Major what railroad he referred to, 
nor did he tell me. I then read him my 
short hand notes. Before I read my 
notes to the Major I asked him if he 
thought there was sufficient capital in 
this country to carry out my scheme, 
without so much as hinting that any 
thing had happened to me. He replied 
that there was money sufficient to do 
three times as much as I proposed to 
do. He then asked me if I had not been 
told what congress had done on the 
Mississippi river, and in the Union Pa- 
cific matter and the Great Oriental. 

There was good money, “gold money,’* 
in abulndance, Captain; said be, on good 


74 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


securities; and silver sufRcient to bridge 
the Mississippi at St. 'Louis again. It 
had all been found in the past twenty 
years, a great deall of it near this city. 
Time brings wonders. 

I replied that was true; and I did 
have a very interesting conversation 
with Col. Banks, the Congressman, and 
the Manager on the progress of the 
country for the past twenty years. 
That “cold storage warehouse” of 
yours, Major, is the thing for the farm- 
ers, 'and I shall goi down and take a 
look at it tomorrow, the flying “war or 
air ship;” also the voting machine. 
Col. Banks tells me that he is sure to 
hive the Secretary of War and Navy 
when Congress m'eet again. I hoipe he 
will dO' so. I think we have now be- 
come sufficiently civilized that we do 
not need to war. i am pleased to kno'w 
that so many goio'd men had been Presi- 
dent of the “United States,” in their 
minds, so well as aspirants, and possi- 
ble Presidents. It should be a source 
of gratification. Major, to all our coun- 
trymen to know we always have so 
many good men, who are able to con- 
duct this government, the greatest in 
the world. Major, said I, how is the 
financial question? I hearid some gen- 
tlemen talking it on the train be- 
tween New York and Chicago; and I 
heard them at the banquet last night. 
I believe this is Sunday, Congressman 
James M. Gibson, -of Houston, Texas, 
did up a “Populite” as completely as 
I ever heard it done in my life. Now 
in England, Major, we do not hear any- 
thing of that kind. They have had 
their policy since 1816, which is a gold 
standard, and they are trying to get 
all they can, as men are everywhere, 
and that keeps them busy. 

Yes, Captain, the question is up ikgain. 
They come, the same questions, about 
every twenty years. The actors may 
be different, but the issue is the same, 
and you’d die a laughing to hear the 
fools talk about what the government 
can do, and ought to do. I did not 
come in Captain to argue the money 
question with you, but my understand- 
ing is that money is a measure of 
value, or labor crystalized, labor com- 
pressed, and stored awiay for present, 


and future use. Who ever has money, 
must have worked for it at some time, 
that is the majority of men have done 
so. Men, like other forces in nature, 
follow the lines of least resistance, and 
get as much as they can with as little 
labor as possible. That is human na- 
ture and 16 to 1 laws will never take 
that out -of us. Now, Captain, I am 
a business man. I feel interested in 
my city, and in my country. I do not 
wish any political job, and that is why 
I told President McKinley I did not 
vvish to go as Ambassador to the Court 
or St. -James, or any other country. 
What men wish in the investment of 
their capital is as much certainty as 
possible, both as to profits, and as to 
what they will be. Men have a distinc- 
tive love for gold, and today a majority 
of the nations of the earth, that is to 
say those who are highest in all that 
goes to make up a highly civilized na- 
tion, have the gold standard and ma- 
jorities rule in the Congress of nations 
las well as in the Congress of a nation. 
There is no need that our money sys- 
tem, which has existed on a gold 
basis ever since 1834, should now be 
disturbed to suit a lot of demagoigues, 
who are filling the farmers’ eyes with 
a lot of dust. Let them put more pro- 
duce in the “cold storage” and they will 
soon have all the money they will wish. 
Any fool can kick a sleeping mastiff. 
It is -only the biggest kind of a fool 
that will do it. When you make condi- 
tions of uncertainty men will not buy, 
or build and the labor will stand idle 
with nothing to do. 

Suppose Congress should pass a law 
to make every man take ten billy goats 
in the city, and every farmer should 
take 100, would not charge us anything 
for them but compel us to take them 
do you not think there would be a great 
kick all over the land? Where would 
we find a market for so many goats? 
But this is no worse comparison, using 
goats instead of “rag money” or free 
“silver dollars.” There is not a country 
on earth, but what would refuse goats 
when they felt that they had taken a 
sufficient number, and there is not a 
country but what will and does refuse, 
to take our paper and our silver up to a 
certain point. 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R, 75 


Well, Major, said I, your comparison 
is something- new and original; it illus- 
trates your point very well. 

But, Captain, said the Major, these 
16 to 1 people will get done up so bad 
before we are through with them that 
I do not think we shall hear of them for 
twenty years again? 

Why, Major? 

Because we are going to show them 
how much we have on hand, and I think 
they will quit in disgust with their own 
theory. 

I am pleased to see Major, that you 
are hopeful, but I have come to the con- 
clusion you had as well sing Psalms to 
a dead horse, as to argue with the “free 
silver Democrats” and “rag money 
Populists.” I cannot understand how 
any sensible man can allow himself to 
be deluded with the idea that he shall 
be carried on to wealth “on flower beds 
of ease” — 16 to 1. Riches can only be 
the lot of the few.- Men who only re- 
ceive a few dollars per day can never 
be irich men, that is to say, millionaires. 
Life is not long enough. Major, and I 
think we are sadly in need of some lit- 
erature to teach this. Money makes 
money. When my business was good 
on the India Central Railway I have 
at sunset found myself $10,000 better off 
than at sunrise. Under those circum- 
stances I could not help but in a few 
years become a rich man. My condi- 
tion was only that of many men in our 
country, who have a large and prosper- 
ous business, where wealth is naturally 
rolling to them like apples, when ripe, 
fall to the earth, because of the attrac- 
tion of gravitation. Do they give it to 
the poor? No. The poor would not do 
so were they in their shoes. There is 
human nature in us all, Major. We pay 
for labor its market value, same as we 
do for silver. Now your remark about 
the goats, Major, brings to my mind an 
interesting question, as to the power of 
laws and Congress. If Congress were 
to pass a law, set it in cold type and at- 
tempt to enforce it for every man to 
keep ten goats, or one goat, we would 
all have a common grievance, and in 
less than one week we would be in the 
throes of a revolution. Then some Ol- 
iver Cromwell would come forward and 
lock up the houses, as he did the long 
parliament in England, and he would 


run all the Congressmen into the Po- 
tomac river, or the lunatic asylum. 
Now Congress could say that these 
goats should be worth one dollar, but it 
is doubtful in my mind if with this 
large supply you could find a man wil- 
ling to give as much as ten cents, as ex- 
pressed in units. For the chances are 
not 16 to 1 but 50 to 1, he would have 
as much goat as his sould could wish 
for. Now if Congress could not im- 
part value to so worthy an animal as 
the “William Goat,” how will or can 
they give value to a metal which has 
now become so plentiful that we could 
“coin” one for every star that shines 
in the heavens and still have some left. 
If Congress can impart value. Major, 
will some one tell me why the old 
“Confederate bill,” which was a very 
pretty design for money calculated to 
impress the mind, and appeal to the 
imagination, with its teams rushing 
forward with the great army cannon. 
Yet it fell until its power to purchase 
labor and the products of labor, was 
one thousand to one, as against a coin- 
ed dollar, silver or gold? Why was it 
that our greenbacks also fell until it 
took 287 in one kind to purchase the 
other, or the things it would command? 
Some may say “over issue;” that would 
be true. Major. Cannot any free silver 
man, 16 to 1, see that the same danger 
would arise from a law to “coin” all the 
silver of the world that should come to 
us at 16 to 1, world without end; for 
they do not tell us for how many years 
this shall go on, but it shall become the. 
law and be repealed when “Gabriel 
blows his horn.” Major, this money 
question is dynamite! Dynamite, and 
will blow up any man or any party that 
fools with it and bring trouble and los- 
ses and uncertainty to the business 
men of this country. Now, Major, we 
see that the value of money does not 
depend on the will of Congress, but on 
human estimate, placed on a thing 
whose quantity is limited. 

Here I arose, went to my desk in the 
room, and brought out my box of Rail- 
road King cigars which the manager 
had sent me. As soon as I learned my 
ships were lost, I discharged my valet. 

I felt that it would be some time be- 
fore I could again afford a luxury like 
that. I had employed him after I ar- 


76 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


rived in the city and did not import him 
from England as did Levi P. Morton, 
that great friend of labor who wanted 
to be president of the /United States. 

But, Captain Glover, said the Major, 
you look a .little hacked this evening, 
what can be the cause? 

Oh, nothing. Major; I am a little 
fatigued, that is all. I have been writ- 
ing hard all day, have written about 
twenty thousand words today; I write 
short hand and very fast. 

Not trying to write a book, are you. 
Captain? 

No, Majoir; I have no wish • to be- 
com'e an author. These book writers 
are a dreamy and visoniary set; know 
nothing of men except those who are 
the creatures of their imagination and 
are always reforming the world on pa- 
per. I have had quite an eventful life 
and am only writing out a little of it 
to amuse myself, and show what kind 
of a man I am. I hear some of the 
Ambassadors made fools of themselves 
while in England; I was over in India 
at the time, you will remember. Major, 
I left here in 1894 — that is just twenty 
years ago. I am pleased to learn since 
my return to the United States, and to 
Vicksburg, which I regard as a very 
important point in these United States, 
that two of my old and highly esteem- 
ed friends. Col. Will Rea and Col. Jno. 
Bush, did dO: something to redeem our 
great country from the fawning atti- 
tude in which she had been placed. If 
my memory serves me right, the Prince 
of Wales told me that the most thor- 
ough American he ever met and the 
man who could picture his country, in 
the most beautiful words, and in the 
most patriotic manner, was Col. Mil- 
ton C. Elstner, who is now Senator 
from the great State of Louisiana, and 
who was for a shoirt time the Attorney 
General under Tom B. Reed, of Maine. 
Major, I will tell you oonfidentialy the 
Prince told me the way that these Am- 
bassadors fawned and run after the 
royal family made him sick. I think 
he told me that he would try and make 
it convenient very soon to have the 
Colonel come over and see him, and 
they would take a hunt of some weeks 
together. I will guiarantee that he will 


entertain the Prince as he could any 
living man, and he will be called again. 
Here, feeling that 1 could no longer 
keep my secret to myself because it 
is always a relief to be able to tell 
our troubles, I put out a strong hint 
to the Major and asked him this ques- 
tion: Why do you not take that Am- 
bassadorship; I will give up my rail- 
road scheme for a few years and go 
and be your Private Secretary, and if 
you think I do not know how to talk 
to the Prince of Wales, read what I 
have written. 

Captain, said the Major, I would not 
have it. There is a foolish notion that 
you must spend a great deal of money 
to fool maniki^d^ and dignify ;your 
country. Our city has now 300,000 peo- 
ple, the finest and largest cotton mills 
in the United States and room for ma- 
ny other things, and I will stick to her. 

As I did not have the giving out of 
the job just then I did not press the 
matter, but asked him this question: 
Major, can you tell me why things 
have been so mixed up in this country 
for the last twenty years as described 
in these plages? I then showed him 
some notes I had made of what the 
Manager had told me, and what I had 
heard at the banquet. How Republi- 
cans had appointed Democrats,and how 
the Democratic President had put a 
Republican in the Cabinet, and so on. 

Well, Captain, I suppose it is now 
well understood that in this country 
politics make strange bed fellows. 
Captain, this is going to be the great- 
est century the world has ever seen. 
Things have been getting better for 
a long time. It began in 1897, and 
they have been growing better year by 
year. In 1900 Col. Banks jumped on 
the Ambassador, and society generally 
and took them out of the State De- 
partment. President Tom Reed in 1901 
approved the Oriental scheme, and 
things are much better and brighter 
than we may imagine. You have just 
hit it right in returning this year. 
When Gen. Wm. Henry, of Jackson, 
Miss., received your letter given else- 
where, we expected you most every/ 
day, but when five years passed and 
still you did not come we then began 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


77 


to think you would never do so. But 
why did you not come by nail, no one 
now travels by ship to Euro'pe; too 
slow ? 

Realizing- that something “big” was 
going on about me, something that I 
had missed in my struggles for money; 
and not wishing to appear ignonant, 
I did not attempt to discuss it. You 
will always show your ignorance in 
trying to discuss something you know 
nothing of. So I said, Major, I am 
pleased to see you are still an optimist. 

Always, Captain. I think the best is 
always before us. 

I understand that is a new school in 
this county in the writing of books and 
in the speeches of gold bugs, to show 
that the future has much that is good 
for us if we can only live to get it. I 
think it a good style. Of course a great 
deal can be said pro and con, but days 
that are gone are gone forever and I 
shall not contend with you Major. Life 
is made up of a great many elements, 
a great deal of imagination, let it be 
big, lots of lies, anr a heap of truth. 
How much to believe constitutes one 
of the main springs of our happiness. 
To be able to pick out that which is 
true and that which is false is one of 
the most difficult tasks of our existence. 
For how often are we disappointed in 
our friends and in our ideals. Major, 
said I, I regret that I did not ask Pres- 
ident Carroll of the cotton mill, this 
question; but as you are one of the 
board of directors you can answer me. 
Are the happy employes of the cotton 
mill willing to share in the losses as 
well as in the profits? That is the great 
trouble with all these co-operative 
plants and with workingmen; they will 
take all of one kind they can get, but 
they can never see that there are times 
when the mill cannot make profits,*! 
have seen business so dull on the Delhi. 
Bombay and Calcutta railroad that it 
did not pay me to run the trains, if my 
engines had have been burning “ice 
and snow,” which cost me nothing. 
Then there was a constant drain upon 
my bank deposits to pay the men, for 
men who work must have their wages. 
But of course it got better by and by. 
Nothing remains still; every thing is in 
motion, getting better and better as we 
proceeded. 


To this the Major then replied, that 
everything was explained to all the peo- 
ple who owned stock in the cotton 
mill; and a full statement of how much 
was done was published every thirty 
days, the same as in the building asso- 
ciations, and had to be sworn to. For- 
tunately the mill was a paying one. 
How it would be. Captain, if the con- 
trary should come I cannot tell, “But 
sufficient unto the day is the evil there- 
of.” 

I then read to him my short hand 
notes. When I had finished he said: 
Captain I am proud to claim you as 
my friend, and that you upheld the dig- 
nity of the United States, and Missis- 
sippi. I always knew you were a re- 
markable man and when you left here • 
twenty years ago I said we shall miss 
Captain Glover when we lay him aside. 

It is everlastingly and eternally true; 
that blessings bright as they take their 
flight, whether they be men or things. 

Major, said I, I thank you for your 
kind words, but you little know how it 
is with me today, though I feel sure 
it would be all the same with you, and 
that you will always be my friend, 
come weal or woe. 

I shall. Captain, said he extending me 
his hand. 

Just then some one called the Major 
out and I did not see him for many 
days'; and I was left all alone to con- 
tinue my writing. I surely enjoyed 
his company. Major Lee Richardson 
is not a myth, but a v/ell known c’ti- 
zen of Vicksburg, Miss., a prosperous 
merchant and a personal friend of the 
editor of these notes. I read the notes 
up to the time that Clint is called, 
omitting as I read to him everything 
that referred to the loss O'f my fleet of 
ships. There is no need to worry your 
friends with your troubles. They can- 
not help you, and most of them have 
troubles of their own. The Major is a 
man of means, but this fleet that was 
lost represented $50,0'00,000, the same as 
one of the bond sales. I now regret 
that I did not let the secretary of the 
treasury. Col. Flowerree, have it, when 
he was so kind as to offer to let me 
have the entire amount or lot of bonds 
on a private bid. I should not wish the 
newspapers to get this information on 


78 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


the Colonel or they would ruin him, as 
they did Van Allen about that ambas- 
sador job to Italy, These newspapers 
are great things in this age. They can 
make you or break you in a few days. 
If they get on to me about my ships 
they will say they were a lot of old 
tubs that I wished to palm off on this 
suffering government, and that they 
were not worth 25c and that I must 
have had in contemplation the destruc- 
tion of the human family. The fact is. 
I was going to try to sell them to 
“Uncle Sam.” I used to hear that he 
would buy any thing; but of late years 
he has been in the selling business 
himself; not ships, but bonds. But I 
was going to speak of our friends and 
say at times they are polite and will 
listen to what you have to say and will 
pretend to be interested, when at the 
same time it may sound like a bone 
mill and affect their nerves like a tem- 
perance lecture ^oes a philosopher, a 
curtain lecture a married man, or the ar- 
gument of a Pop' or free silver man does 
a sound money man. For they will get 
their auger into you and pour it into 
you by the hour, until, like old Mr. Job. 
who was a great society man, you are 
ready to curse your tormentor and die. 
I do not think this was the case with 
Major Lee Richardson, who said my 
points were all well taken and my con- 
duct with the “Prince” and the “Lon- 
don Bankers,” given in this chapter 
was all that could be expected of a man 
from Mississippi, and would surely add 
to her glory. He did not suppose there 
was another man in the union who 
would have shown the same courage, 
and he advised me to put it in the pa- 
per, which I had to do in part some time 
afterwards. The notes I wrote that 
day were a true history of my life and 
is well remembered by all the actors. 

The writer is of the opinion that these 
notes were written out a long time af- 
ter they took place, and, perhaps, after 
fortune had again smiled upon the Cap- 
tain, as they have the appearance to 
him of being the expressions and sen- 
timents of a man in great distress of 
mind, who was lamenting what he had 
been and what he then was. The com- 
parisons, if brooded over, were of suf- 


ficent varience, to have driven mad 
even a man with the mind Oif the Cap- 
tain. 

The Major is oif the same opinion, 
says he thinks the Captain onlyt alked 
with him and did not read him any- 
thing, but there is no reason why he 
should anticipate, for you read it for 
yourself. As he did not do these things 
himself he has arranged the notes as 
he found them. 

But to proceed with my story. The 
distance from Delhi to Bombay, via 
Calcutta, is 2,200 miles. At the close 
of the nineteenth century the railroads 
of the Orient were at least 100 years 
behind those of the United States; and 
the time to make this trip consumed 
more hours than to go from the north 
of Maine, to the south of Florida. The 
trains ran about 300 miles when they 
would stop from eight to twenty-four 
hours. Now in the first quarter of the 
twentieth century the time is made in 
twenty-five hours and muct of it is 
double track. When the Prince of 
Wales and myself purchased this road 
the little cars had four wheels like 
street cars, and in' the cold part of the 
country you would freeze, and in the 
hot part you would burn up. I told 
him I proposed to introduce the Amer- 
ican system — Vestibule style. That it 
was from riding in the Mann Boudoir, 
over the great Queen & Crescent from 
Cincinnati to New Orleans, before I 
left my native land that made me de- 
termine that the roads of his country 
could be very much improved if they 
would adopt many things in use on 
American Railways, especially wiages, 
and I was going to have some like 
them if I had to get them in the United 
States. They would come in duty free, 
as England is a free trade country. He 
objected, as the English are slow to 
make changes, and he told me of the 
London and Northwestern; the same 
style I have described, with the pas- 
sengers locked in like prisoners of war, 
and the conductors climbing on the 
out side like a monkey, I then inform- 
ed him that they did not please me. 
so well as the cars in my own country, 
and '"that I had seen one train on the 


V 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 79 


Chloag'o and Northwestern Railway that 
I believe cost more than alii the rolling- 
stock in England. He gave in to me 
then. A tramp told me one day that 
my road was much better managed 
than the “ Vanderbilt system.” His 
reason for this was good; he rode 500 
mile and did not pay. He, in after 
years, proved to be a good man, but 
then he was down on one side — ^as a 
railroad man would say, he had broke 
a spring hanger. There are many good 
men down. I am down myself today. 
Everything gone? No! as Louis the 
XVI said, all is lost save honor. The 
Major was in to see me. I dO' not think 
I showed him that any greait trouble 
was on my mind about my ships. 

But I cannot muse, and write here all 
day. Something must be done, and be- 
fore I call the porter I will write out 
one other trouble I had with the 
“Prince/' while fresh on my mind. This 
Was about our conductors. You should 
be told here that there is no compari- 
son between the characters of the men 
who run trains in Europe and those 
who compose the O. R. C., and run 
the passenger train on the great rail- 
ways of our country. I knew the char- 
acter of those men twenty years ago, 
and though I am something of a stran- 
ger, I think I know them yet. The 
conductors are men of intelligence. Tha 
training they have to receive to fit 
them for their positions is usually one 
of hard rubs; like that of a military 
officer, and would fit them for any 
kind of business. The standards have 
much improved in the last twenty 
years, and our conductors are among 
our best citizens. Some of them climb 
high in the profession and in time be- 
come Superintendents and Heneral 
Managers of great system of railroads, 
where they have control of property 
up into the millions, and they show 
judgment and business capacity, that 
is not dimmed by some of our best law- 
yers and college graduates. This was 
the case with one I knew. Well, I 
refer to Col. Richard Carrolil, of Cin- 
c'fi^nat/i, and many years with the 

great Queen & Crescent route. He was 
an old train conductor. In time con- 


ductors become fine judges of human 
nature and character, and are seldom 
wrong in their estimates and judgment 
of men. Their position is one of the 
best schools in the world to study that 
great mystery to man — man himself. 
They all receive fine salaries, but are 
expected to dress well and be liberal, 
build churches and do many other 
things, and but few of them reach the 
“brown stone mansion,” that seems so 
near when they begin and becomes 
like the mirage. The conductors are 
men of high hoptcs and great aspira- 
tions. They hope, some day, tO' wear 
a headlight, sit under the “vines and 
fig trees” of their own brown stone, 
drive a thousand dolliar teapi., and 
finally becomie Ceneral Managers, and 
if the “Populites” doi not get the coun- 
try and buy them all, they hope to 
own their own railroads. There is no 
harm in hope. Hope! Hope! thou flame 
eternal that burns in the human 
heart. That many of them shall reach 
all this and even more is this night the 
wish of their friend. Captain Glover. I 
have wished for all of these, I have 
gained them, enjoyed them, and now 
I have lost them. 

I shall here say a few words for the 
engineman. The responsibilities that 
rest upon these men could not be ex- 
pressed by me in words. Millions of 
people, day by day, and year by year, 
trust all they hold most dear to them. 
That life itself is committed tO' their 
care and judgment. Engineers are the 
bravest and most intelligent body of 
workingmen in the world, and they 
have the best labor organization, “the 
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.” 
In time they become very much at- 
tached to their engines, and they dec- 
orate her cab, which is their homes for 
many hours every day, with pictures. 
With his oil can in hand he will walk 
around her, drop a little oil here and 
there, and he will pat her, call her “old 
girl” and talk to her as if she was 
human, and when the conductor gives 
him the signal, he mounts the caib, and 
with clear head, keen eye and steady 
nerve he makes her fly over plains, 

across high bridges and through long 


80 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRAN^-CONTINENTAL R, R. 


and dark tunnels. No matter how 
dark and stormy, may he the night, 
the engineer must he at his post, and 
make the time. There are many in- 
stances where he faced and met death 
trying to save others as courageously 
as any Spartan who fell at the pass of 
Thermopylae. He has all the hopes, 
and aspirations that characterize others 
in the profession, except he does not 
care for the General Manage’s office, or 
the brown stone front, but he looks 
forward to the time when some fortune 
wave or wheel will make him the Su- 
perintendent of motive power and ma- 
chinery of some great system encirc- 
ling the world, when the engines in his 
round house will he finest and fastest 
on the rail, all covered with silver. 
That will he his admiration in the day 
and his dreams by night, and before 
you are through you will see it. All 
honor the engineers of our great coun- 
try. I know them well and esteem 
them accordingly. 

But I have wandered again, and will 
tell you of my trouble with the Prince, 
and how it ended. He wished to have 
all the conductors submitted to the X 
Rays three or four times a day, put reg- 
ister bells on them and bring them out 
every trip in debt to the company. I 
objected to this and told him I had a 
new plan for our “India Central Rail- 
way.” I proposed to give each con- 
ductor his first uniform, $25 lanterns, 
diamond punch, diamond pin, a pair of 
Arabian horses that trot it in 2:10, and 
a mansion to begin with, and I could 
get the endorsement of every train con- 
ductor on earth. He made me very an- 
gry as he walked the floor, beat his 
breast, and tore his hair, casting insin- 
uation on the conductors of my country 
which I knew were as false as the “Chi- 
nese God.” He said the poor people 
through which the railroad run thought 
the conductor owned the trains and as 
they did not take the time or trouble to 
correct this impression they were sail- 
ing under false colors. Do not think 
the conductor is mean because he will 
not pass you. He does not own the 
train and some one must pay fare, and 
you are not the only one who is trying 
to ride free. Everybody who thinks 
they have any chance tries it. 


But I kept my temper, and my tongue 
as he talked, as I have many times be- 
fore. For what you do not say you do 
not have to explain. Words are things 
“By words you shall be judged, and by 
words you shall be condemned,” says 
the good book. I then quietly told him 
he could buy me out if my scheme did 
not go. But he was a little short of 
money as he has been many times be- 
fore, and that will bring men to terms 
when all other things have failed. 
There is no argument in this world so 
powerful as money, and there are but 
few things, men and women will not do 
for it. I could say the great difference 
between men is nothing but money. 1 
will also include education. Men can 
and do get along without much knowl- 
edge of books, but can accomplish noth- 
ing without money. Money covers a 
multitude of sins. 

But to return to the Prince. When 
he saw he could not bluff me he became 
very much composed, for he really 
liked me, for I am the same kind of a 
man that George J. Gould and Chaun- 
cey M. Depew are— a big railroad man, 
at least I was when I arrived in this 
city; but now I am ruined, broke! broke! 
But like the conductors, whose charac- 
ter I have truthfully described, I am 
not without hope. I had a present- 
ment of trouble before I went to London, 
which I shall give you, and come out 
all right. I had a presentment in the 
park that I would have some trouble 
and it came, in the information of the 
loss of my fleet of ships, and even now 
I have a belief that I will come out all 
right. How it will come, what it shall 
be I cannot now tell, but this day and 
this night will be the turning point of 
my life. If I cannot secure the capital 
or the co-operation of the United States 
to push my Vicksburg and Central 
American scheme through, I will try 
and become the secretary of some big 
railroad president, and if I should fail 
in that, I will ascend the lecture plat- 
form. I hear the men of this country 
take to lectures like a duck to water, 
that is if they do not come from their 
wives. I hear Col. Ingersoll can make 
one thousand dollars a night telling 
people about things he admits that he 
knows nothing about, and they knew 
more because they believed more. We 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R, 


81 


walk by faith and not by sig-ht. A lec- 
ture is something like this: Everything 
goes; you select your subject and sa^^ 
what you please. But that would be a 
great fall from the general manager of 
a great railway to walking the plat- 
form telling the people about the ‘“Hin- 
doo” and the “Chinaman,” people they 
care nothing about. Still that will be 
no worse fate than that which befell 
two presidents of the United States. 
One was a justice of the peace and the 
other was president of a poultry soci- 
ety. One’s name was R. B. ,Hayes. 
But then I am an original character, I 
am the only man in the United States 
that was ever in the railroad business 
with the Prince of Wales. I am the 
only man who ever stood off a lot of 
bankers, at the point of a pistol, and 
made them squirm and that, too, when 
they were making everybody else 
squirm. When my life shall be spread 
out before the people . all over this coun- 
try they will say there was but one 
Captain Olover. I suppose I would be 
able to tell the , people of the United 
States fully as much of the character 
of the “Hindoo” as can Max O’Rell tell 
of the American people, whose charac- 
ter he has studied from the Pullman 
car windows, and the Palace Hotels. 
It always seemed strange to me that 
people would crowd the Opera House 
and pay a dollar to hear of “Vaga- 
bond Life in Europe,” when they care 
nothing for the vagabonds in their 
own country. There is a very popular 
lecture by George Kennan, a Siberian 
traveler and writer. I suppose the peo- 
ple would crowd the Auditorium to hear 
me lecture on how the “Coxey Army 
Lived,” while they would chase the 
army away. Consistency, thou art in- 
deed a jewel. But I will defer the lec- 
ture business for the present. This 
night will determine what my future 
shall be. I shall write here until late, 
on this soliloquy of mine, when I shall 
call the porter and will now return to 
my trouble with the Prince and the 
bankers. We have met a great many 
characters and will meet many more. 
Some will not have a great deal to say 
and will pass on; while others will have 
a good deal to say. But this life is as 
we live it. Some talk a great deal and 

say nothing, while others say a few 

6 


words and say a great deal. For on a 
few words great events are sometimes 
determined. But this twentieth cen- 
tury has some big things. It has been 
hinted to me two or three times by the 
manager, by the Major and others. I 
can feel it in my bones that they will in 
some way concern me, and were it not 
that I wished to complete what I had 
already mapped out, I would go down 
in the rotunda of the 'hotel and send for 
the Major to return and ask him 
what he meant by' asking me the 
question why I did not come from Eng- 
land by rail. But this information will 
have to come now from some other 
source. I have let my opportunity pass 
me. Water that has passed the mill 
will grind no grist. So we will return 
to the Prince. 

Then, in his anger he threatened to 
call out the army and navy of England 
to suppress me, that invincible body of 
men who have planted the flag of their 
country in all lands, but who never 
have nor never will conquer America 
So I told him I was still a citizen of the 
United States and only temporarily re- 
siding in his country and would claim 
the protection of the “Stars and 
Stripes” the prettiest flag on earth, and 
defended by more men and better men 
and braver men than ever followed 
William the Conqueror or any other 
kings or queens of old England, and 
while I did not know the Secretary of 
War personally I believed he would 
come to my rescue, and that Congress 
would help him as they wished to help 
the “Cubans,” who are now free. I al- 
so informed him that there were any 
number of men in my country that 
would as soon fight old Etigland as not; 
as a man by the name of Mr. Coin had 
written a book telling them that 
England was the stumbling block to 
the free and unlimited coinage of silver 
at 16 to 1, and he would be surprised 
how many there was who believed it. 
With this I got up from the table where I 
was sitting in conversation with him 
about our railroad and our conductors, 
and in a highly dramatic manner I re- 
cited the words of this poem: 

“Tis the Star Spangled Banner, 

Long may she wave 

O’er the land of the free, 

And the home of the brave.” 


82 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


This trouble of mine with the Prince 
took place near London at the Windsor 
Castle in the Queen’s palace, in the 
year 1900 and just a few days after the 
famous speech of Ambassador Rea. 
From what I have been told of the mat- 
ter, and which could be properly term- 
ed bearding- the lion in his den. We 
people from Mississippi are some 
pumpkins — don’t forget that. Since my 
return to this country and my conver- 
sation with Captain Hugh Richardson, 
brother of the Major, who has kept up 
with the political changes, he tells me 
that H. Clay Evans, of Tennessee, was 
the secretary of war and that Hon. 
Matthew Stanley Quay, of Pennsylva- 
nia, was the president. The first nam- 
ed was elected as the governor of Ten- 
nessee and was beat out of it by the 
honest Democracy of that State, (if 
there was ever any such thing). I be- 
lieve I heard that Ben Harrison, when 
president of the United States, appoint- 
ed Howell E. Jackson on the United 
States supreme bench that we might 
have a fair count. He did not know 
them, so well as I did, or he would not 
have slapped all the good Republican 
lawyers of the South in the face and 
taken up a Democrat. Republicans 
should not appoint Democrats in the 
cabinet or vice versa; but they have 
and they do, and I could not change 
a fact even if I would. But it has been 
a long time ago, but it has not been 
forgotten by the people who shall read 
this book. He should have taken some 
such man as Judge Emory Spear, of 
Georgia, or Capt. A. M.-Lea, of Missis- 
sippi, the attorney general in these 
pages, who are just as good lawyers as 
Judge Jackson ever was and good Re- 
publicans to boot. Harrison for presi- 
dent again? No, never! Perhaps you 
may imagine I am too complimentary, 
but I think I know the characters of 
this book as well as you do, many of 
them, and they all fully competent to 
play the part that I have assigned 
them, and I beg to recall to your mem- 
ory my words in chapter six in which 
I state a trueism: That you can never 
tell what there is in a man until he is 
tried. But what chance have many 
men, when a man will get the great of- 
fice of president two terms, under the 
promise that he will make the poor 


man rich at the expense of his employ- 
er, and when the land has voted no 
confidence, he will have friends who 
wish to push him in for the third term? 
I have asserted in another part that 
men are all selfish and there have been 
men in the cabinets of not only Grover 
Cleveland, but of others, who would 
not have hesitated to have thrown the 
imperial robes upon the president, if 
thereby they could have perpetuated 
themselves in power. The workingmen 
are not the enemies of Republican 
forms of government. The Major tells 
me that the terms of the presidents of 
the United States are one and two 
years. Democrats one year. This ac- 
counts for the amazing statement of 
the manager, and I wonder where he 
is tonight and if he knows his friend 
Captain Glover is in ao much trouble 
that he is almost crazy. I think well of 
all the great men of my country, but I 
am not much of a hero worshipper. I 
used to be, but I had an object lesson 
that cured me. I saw a man digging up 
the mummies near the ancient city of 
Memphis, in Egypt, and grinding them 
up and shipping them to England for 
guano. To what a base use to men be- 
come at last! Then, “Oh! why should 
the spirit of mortal be proud?’’ But 
there is no need that I should sit here 
and soliloquize and moralize and write. 
My. History will in all probability in- 
terest no one. I do not like myself that 
a man be the hero of his own story. I 
will pen a few more words in short 
hand, when I will call the porter and 
go from this million dollar hotel. I 
cannot stay here with no money; but. 
thank heaven, I am again in the land 
of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln. 
Grant, Lee and Stonewall Jackson, and 
am with my friends, I hope. The 
cynical may manifest contempt for my 
style, and for my ideas, and I will ad- 
mit 'that it is a serious matter for a 
man, even in the sixth story of a hotel, 
to run counter to the judgments of the 
world and the usual literature of his 
time, and not be harpooning some one 
up hill and down dale, so I will change 
the line of thought to tell you a good 
story, fearing you may have already 
exclaimed with Dante’s lost angel: 
“How long, oh Lord, how long?” When 

we will again take up the Captain’s 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


83 


notes, giving* his experience with the 
London Bankers, together with his con- 
versation with the porter, where he re- 
ceives information which made him de- 
termine to remain in Vicksburg, for we 
are all creatures of circumstances. 
This brought him in contact with some 
of the most noted men of the nation, 
and gave him a reputation as a busi- 
ness man and as a social companion, 
and spread his fame as an orator, 
throughout the length and breadth of 
this great country. 

Now some people think that all big 
men love each other like Damon and 
Pythias, but I have had occasion to 
associate a good deal with ^big men in 
my life, 'both in the railroad business 
and in politics, and I am here to tell 
you that they bate with the hate that 
is born of the infernal regions. I will 
give you a case in point. One day I 
was on the train, during a heated elec- 
tion time; there was a United States 
Senator on board, who was a candidate 
fo>r re-election (as they all are;) there 
were several other gentlemen who were 
candidates for gubernatorial and also 
Senatorial offices. There was one sec- 
tion in the Mann Boudoir unsold and 
my Senator rushed in and 'bought it 
while the others had to take refuge in 
the day coaches. All thought they were 
going 'a long ways. As I was not after 
the Senatorsihip he offered to share his 
section with me. I sat down and talk- 
ed with him and he breathed forth sul- 
phur against the occupants of the for- 
ward CELT. By and by I joined the 
other gentlemen. They threw brim- 
stone at the Senator in the sleeper. So 
becoming satisfied I would not see that 
day any conduct resemibling that Of 
Jonathan and David, I left them alone 
in their glory. I will add that they 
were all of the same faith, but they 
were terribly in each other’s way. So, 
kind reader, do not deceive yourself in 
thinking that all big men love each 
other, even if in the same business, 
the greatest affection for each other 
is found among men heaving dirt for 
90c a day. 

I suppose when I am well advertised 
in the United States the General Man- 
agers will all organize against me, as 


they did in England, but it will be use- 
less, for all left of the railroads I 
have at present, or am likely to have, 
since my fleet of ships are at the bot- 
tom of the sea, is here in my trunk 
in these rooms, numbers 374 and 375, 
and consists of the charter and a few 
acts of Congress of this country and 
the Central American Statees. That 
is nothing, howeve'r. I once bad a 
friend who carried a railroad about in 
'his valise for many years, but finally 
located, it on land. I allude tO' the 
New Orleans & Northwestern rail- 
way, now running out of Natchez, Miss., 
and crossing the Q. & C. route at 
Rayville, La. They have all been on 
paper at one time( the biggest of them.) 
But my principal regret over my loss 
is that I shall be compelled to disap- 
point my old friend, Capt. iH. B. Hearn, 
a gentleman well known as the agent 
of the great Q. & C., at Shreveport, 
La., for many years. He was to be 
my general Manager. I have not seen 
him for miany years, but I hope he is 
doing well and that he will survive this 
disappointment. There 'are others of 
my friends who have been up to see 
me; but they will now all be doomed 
to obscurity. Some of them have been 
in to see me many times and we have 
pictured things to which the dreams 
of “Cinderella at the B'all” were not 
a circumstance. It will now be with 
us as it was with her “after the ball.” 
But I will not play the part of the 
dog in the manger, and tom'orrow I 
will hunt up the “Silver Plate Syndi- 
cate” and see if they have any “get 
up” about them. I will also see the 
Secretary of Transportation and pre- 
sent him with this charter, which will 
bring wealth and power. Eor who is 
prepared to say that the joining of the 
continents of North and S'outh America 
in the manner I propose to do wo'uld 
not bring wealth to 'the company. 

If they will do nothing for me, then 
I will go back to India, exclaming as 
David did: “The Lord protect me from 
my frineds.” 

But before I ring for the porter I will 
tell you how I came to part with my 
“Delhi, Bombay and Calcutta Rail- 
road.” As I said before, the big men of 


84 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 


the country combined against me, on 
account of the wages I paid and the 
free passes I cut off. Let any one who 
thinks courage is not power as well as 
money, hear this. One day a commit- 
tee called on the 'Prince and told him 
it would be a grand thing to get George 
Gould and ex-iPresident Depew over to 
England and have a little boat race, 
and they offered to put up the money 
and take his shares in the India Central 
railroad. Tljey told the Prince that it 
would be a great thing; that the news- 
papers of America would take the mat- 
ter up and give him such an advertis- 
ing in the United States that he could 
move over to New York City, in one 
week be naturalized, join the great 
Democratic party and be elected Pres- 
ident. 'He could then annex this little 
body of land and so undo the great 
crime (not of 1873) but of George Wash- 
ington and his co-revolutionists. The 
Prince is not a fool by any means. 1 
suppose he is one of the best informed 
men in Europe. Many hard things are 
said of him, but as I was not directing 
the footsteps of men in that country or 
this, who had passed their twenty-first 
year, I never made an allusion to the 
tpatter in many conversations with 
him. And still many men have the 
power to make black appear white. I 
never could understand how it was 
done. But I suppose they must in this 
case have hypnotized him. At any 
rate, he listened to them as did old 
Mother Eve to the .serpent in the Gar- 
den of Eden, and turned over his in- 
terest (the last he possessed) to them. 
They then printed a few more shares, 
as they had the plate, put them in the 
Bank of England, and before I knew 
it I was in the rapidly whirling vortex 
and being swept downward. They tel- 
egraphed me to come to London, and 
when I got there they had a new board 
on me, and I was the general manager 
no longer. The Prince was entertain- 
ing George. I looked him up and he 
told me with' tears in his eyes that they 
had “hoodooed” him and George Gould 
would not lend him a dollar if he 
thought he needed it. For men are few 
who care for your troubles. I then 
sought me a lawyer and put my case 
before him. 

He took down a book, full of all kinds 


of writs, and quietly informed me that 
the one on the first page would cost me 
a cool million and the more pages he 
turned the higher they would go. 1 
was satisfied there were better and low- 
er-priced lawyers in London than he, 
and I will here add that lawyers are 
like the old Texan whisky, all good. 
There are no bad lawyers. I then con- 
cluded I would defend my own case, 
though I might have a fool for a client, 
and I would do so in good old cow boy 
style. Now the Englishman have seen 
Willie Buffalo shoot Indians in his show 
and they have heard a little about the 
shooting ability of the average Amer- 
ican. I have in my possession a good 
Smith & Wesson revolver and while I 
was rushing about London looking for 
a lawyer I had it in my pocket. I 
walked back into the office where they 
were all sitting and asked them to let 
me look at some of their stock. They 
handed me a bundle. I looked at it 
carefully and was satisfied it was water- 
ed. The road was capitalized at two 
or three times what it had cost. The 
value of a thing is usually what it 
cost, or what it would cost to duplicate 
it. Talking as though I considered 
myself out, I said: “Gentlemen, do 
you propose to pay dividends on all of 
this,” pointing to the cart load of stocks 
and bonds lying on the long table, 
“and if so, please tell me how you will 
do so?” “Well said the gentleman who 
was acting the part of chairman, “we 
will cut that 25 per cent, you added on 
against the protest of the Prince.” 

“But,” said I, “the men will all 
strike.” 

“Let them strike — we know how to 
deal with them. Besides when their fa- 
ces begin to look like they have been 
buried for a week, and their children 
cry for bread, like the average Populite 
in the United (States does for office, they 
will come to terms. Men will do any- 
thing to hold their jobs, and will take 
anything; for the destruction of the 
poor is their poverty.” 

Looking downward I replied: “Gen- 
tlemen, that is too true; but I* am the 
general manager yet and I will invoke 
the aid of the courts.” 

At this they all laughed like country 
boy’s at the negro minstrels. 


THE GREAT ORIENTALUND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 


85 


But the courts all belong to us said 
they. 

Indeed, said I. Some of them may. 
but not all. Besides you are not Gen- 
eral manager. 

Captain Glover, we had filled your 
place just before you came in. 

I still did not lose my temper. 

Well, said I, can I have a pass from 
Bombay to Delhi when I return home. 
I have some friends up there and more- 
over, I would like to look one more time 
on the Great Taj by moonlight, as I 
think I will leave the country. I shall 
go back to Vicksburg, if I can raise 
money enough to pay my fare back to 
America, where there at least a few 
honest men. 

Well, Captain Glover, said one, we 
ma 3 ^ as well tell you first and last, you 
are now like the label on this bottle 
(picking up a bottle of champagne) — 
you are now with the great unfortu- 
nate 49 per cent, people. 

The gentleman who made this re- 
mark thought it was very funny and 
no doubt imagined that old Col. Wag- 
ner was not a circumstance to him; but 
he soon changed his tune as you will 
see. 

Gentlemen, said I, you do not then 
propose to give me any thing for my 
railroad, not even a pass, and if I wish 
to ride I will have to trust to the kind- 
ness of one of my old conductors and 
cause him to run the risk of being dis- 
charged if he carries me. 

That is about the size of it, replied 
one. 

Well then, gentlemen, said I, stepping 
back towards the door, those of you 
who believe there is a crown up in 
heaven for you prepare to receive it, for 
you will soon be there. I now propose 
to kill every one of you. With this — I 
pulled out my pistol and pointed it 
straight at the head of the chairman. 
If you ever saw a scared lot of men it 
was those old robbers. My pistol must 
have looked like “Whistling Dick.” 
They jumped behind the chairs, some 
crowded under the table and some of 
them fell to their knees and began to 
pray, for the first time in many years. 
I suppose, and they all cried out at 
once; For God’s sake. Captain Glover, 
do not kill us, we will pay you. 

All right gentlemen, said I, lowering 


my pistols. I do not want any of your 
blood on my hands — all I want is my 
money for my railroad. Write me a* 
check for the whole amount on the 
Bank of England or I will shoot you 
all like a lot of wolves. I then told 
them if they said anything about nxy 
drawing my pistol on them or made any 
attempt to arrest me I would kill the 
first one of them I met. They all prom- 
ised they would not disturb me. They 
kept their word and I kept mine and 
we are all alive tonight. So when I 
came through London on my way to 
Vicksburg, they gave me a banquet. 
Fortunately for me I was able to take 
care of myself. We were some what on 
a level. I was a rich man, so were they, 
but I hope I am a better man than some 
rich men I have known. 

Though I had my money in my hand 
I could not think of abandoning my 
men to their fate and said to them: 
Gentlemen, you all know that all this 
stock you have here is watered, you 
know you did not buy it from the 
Prince so put these certificates in the 
stove and do right by these men and 
all will be well with you. 

With this I bade them good day. I 
met the Prince the next day and told 
him what had happened and he laugh- 
ed heartily at the old cowards, and 
said he was very sorry he had caused 
me so much trouble, seemed to be in 
earnest about it and asked me to for- 
give him. We should all be ready to 
forgive our friends when they ask our 
pardon and seem to regret a wrong 
they may have done, so I told him “All 
was well that ended well,” but that I 
was going back to Vicksburg and build 
me a railroad into Central America 

Then it was that he came out strong 
on where I had made my money, not 
seeming to remember that I came near 
losing it while he was out sailing with 
George Gould, and he pursuaded me to 
buy the 50 ships, over which I am now 
grieving. No one who knows me would 
think I would, have done these things, 
for I am no Kit Carson, although I 
generally know my man, as I did in this 
case. 

Since I have reiturned to the city I 
have been up ito the library building, 
corner of South andi Cherry street*, 
and while in there was locking over 


86 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRAm-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


the files oif the Eveming Post and saw 
a long editorial in there written hy my 
friend, John Cashman, editor of that 
journal, about my act on the Delhi, 
Bombay and Calcutta railroad. I know 
that my identity did not occur to him, 
for he is an old friend of mine and 
would have sent, me a copy of the pa- 
per. 

When I returned to Bombay it was 
with feelings of sadness that I was. 
compelled to tell my men that I had 
been forced to part with my interest 
in the road and would no longer di- 
rect them. I published a card in the 
daily paper thanking them for their 
faithfulness and ever ready response 
to duty. I told them that I believed 
they had passed into good hands. This 
lie, not the first one I ever told, cost 
me a struggle, for my short experience 
with those old thieves in London, whose 
whole lives had been passed in giving 
orders to evict poor Irish tenants, led 
me to believe that the men might as 
well prepare to meet the worst. But 
it is not right always to play the part 
of Job’s comforter, and it is as well 
to hold the bright side of things to- men. 
And I had the smallest ray of hope 
that the bluff I had run on the old 
devils might teach them to treat men 
right and give them to understand that 
men will, when gored to madness, de- 
fend themselves, even though they be 
paupers, as they had supposed I was 
when they had sat in judgment on me, 
and prepared to rob me of all I possess- 
ed. 

A fe/w days after I returned to my 
home in Bombay I got word that the 
men were preparing to present me 
with some handsome testimonials. I 
gave the matter my disappiroval, for 
I felt in my heart that the time was 
fast approaching, when they would 
need every dime they received. So I 
told one of the men some suitable 
thanks, written or printed, would do 
as well for me, as I had no heirs to 
inherit a more substantial present, and 
it might in time find its way to some 
pawn shop. Pior when a man is gone 
who can tell wihat will becoime of his 
property? So they gave me a set of 
thanks, written on parchment, and it 


is more appreciated by me than if it 
were gold or diamonds of a thousand 
times its weight; and if any one is curi- 
ous to see it, he may call on me at The 
Carroll Hotel, which will be my quar- 
ters for a few days. I mention these 
things to show that some officers like 
their subordinates, and many men like 
the officers that' are kind and consid- 
erate to them. Conversations I have 
overheard from my own men satisfy 
me that this is true. But I certainly 
dislike to go from this Hotel. It is a 
fine one, and I understand that my 
friend. Will Stanton, the well known 
architect, drew the plans for it and 
that it cost one million dollars. When 
a man can get away from trouble it 
is well for him to do so, and if I remain 
here until I owe the house one thousand 
dollars, they may treat the city to 
a first-class sensation by throwing me 
from the top of the house, after the mat- 
ter is well advertisedi, to insure a 
crowd. I have now money enough on 
hand to pay f or lodging due, and I will 
go before the trouble begins to brew. 
Now my display of nerve in London 
and my want oif courage at other times 
may excite comment, so I had best ex- 
plain it. When I heard that pistol 
click last night at the banquet and was 
thinking of falling out of the window 
at the cotton mill, I did not know in 
what direction the bullets might fly. 
Now I used to know that the average 
man in the South carried one pistol 
and as I have seen them improve in 
many other things, I, of course, had 
a right to think that they carried two, 
or, perhaps, three; but what made my 
blood run cold was the thought of a 
man killing his fellow man about the 
money question. I never like to dis- 
cuss the currency question, if I can get 
out of it. I understand it is up before 
the country again; I would prefer to 
leave it to a wiser head than mine, and 
I am not going to discuss it here but 
only make a few suggestions. The 
money question has been before the 
world since old Abraham bought the 
lot on which to bury his wife, and long 
before that time. Men may talk as 
glibly as they please about settling the 
money question in fifteen minutes, but 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 87 


as long' as there are men to lend and 
others to borrow, and the creditor does 
not have the money when pay day 
comes, there will be a money question 
unsettled, and the man that owes will 
want to pay in the cheapest thing- he 
can get. That is where our human na- 
ture comes in. 

My reason for trembling when I heard 
that noise after reading the “Progress- 
ive Age,” lying on my table was, as 
I have said before, that mobs have no 
sense or (reason, and it is no part of 
cowardice to avoid them. It may be 
all right to lead a mob, but it is a 
very different matter to be led by the 
mob to some handy tree. I once led a 
mbb myself and we attacked a farm 
house, near where we were wrecked, 
and we killed every chicken the old 
farmer had, and, to add insult to in- 
jury, one of the train boys made love 
to his pretty daughter. But we left 
the old farmer happy, for he had a 
bag full of bright new silver dollarts, 
worth 100 cents each, and I do not 
doubt if he had been questioned the 
next day that he would have said that 
there was no money question. I would 
not have blamed him, for a plenty of 
money usually* does settle the money 
question. 

When I fell here tonight after read- 
ing the letter from my lawyer telling 
me of the loss of my fleet of ships, I 
realized that to be a blow from on 
high, and there is no need to draw pis- 
tols when the Great Ruler lays His 
hands on our person or our property. 
But when I was dealing with those old 
robbers in Londen the case was very 
different. I was siatisfled that I must 
act, and do so quickly, and in a way 
that would count; for if I contended 
long with them they would send for 
the police, and as I was a poor man 
they would transport me to Botany 
Bay, for in drawing my pistol I had 
crossed the Rubicon. 

I forget to mention that I called on 
one other lawyer. His wits were not 
quite so steep as the other attorney, 
and he was a good man, and a good 
lawyer. 

He told me candidly that I had fallen 
in with the worse lot of old shylO'Oks 


in London; he also told me that the 
Prince had been borrowing money for 
the past ten years, and the last they 
let him have was! only about £1,000, or 
about $5,000; that it would be useless 
to fight them in the courts; that they 
had a corrupt old Judge who would 
decide against me, it mattered not 
what law I might show or what facts 
I presented; that I could, of course, 
enjoy the luxury of a law suit if I was 
anxious for it, and he would draw the 
papers for £1,000, but I would in all 
probability be gray headed before the 
case was decided, and in the mean- 
time they would be running my rail- 
road. When I heard this, I requested 
his fee for the advice given, and he, 
smiling, said, “Nothing.” This did not 
surprise me, because lawyers often do 
this. 


CHAPTER IX. 

But if I had had my friend Judge 
Will Voller over there, I would have 
taken a butt at them, after I got my 
money, for issuing those extra shares; 
for that is unlawful in England, if 
proven, and the Judge would have but- 
ted them until there was no more of 
them left than there was of the old 
farmer’s billy goats. 

But to-night I am no better off than 
if I had let them rob me, except that I 
have the proud satisfaction of knowing 
that I made a lot of old Shylocks 
squirm in the dust and respect a man 
from Vicksburg; and I have played the 
part that makes many men happy— I 
have had my Anger in my fellow man’s 
eye. 

But who can say that everything 
does not happen for the best? The 
great panic of twenty years ago was no 
doubt a blessing in disguise, and I un- 
derstand the farmers all over the land 
have not failed to profit by it. They 
learned their lesson in the hard school 
of experience, and not from any advice 
from me, because I have been out of 
this country for twenty years. I 


88 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


want to hear of their progress and I do 
not know of any man who' could give it 
to me in better words than my friend 
the Attorney-General of the State of 
Mississippi, Col. O. S. Robbins. I shall 
call to see him. No man can tell what 
a few days may bring forth. I may 
have some other business with him. 
But I cannot get out of my mind the 
loss of my fleet of ships and the de- 
struction of my railroad contemplating 
the joining of the continents of North 
and South America. But it is useless 
to grieve. “Everything happens for 
the best,” used to be the philosophy of 
my old grandfather and grandmother, 
(honest old souls; peace to their ashes). 
Perhaps the safe landing of my ships 
and the completion of my railroad 
would have turned my head or made 
me many enemies, for more men are 
ruined by prosperity than adversity 
unless there is too much plus — before 
the adversity. 

But the hour is now 11 p.m. I will pack 
up my things, put this labor paper 
away for the present, and say nothing 
about it. May be it was all imagi- 
nation, that noise, and perhaps the pa- 
per is only a joke of some friend, or it 
may be all wind. Most of the journals 
of that character and most of the men 
who are abusing men with capital are 
only wind bags. I understand they 
have the -Xlnion Newspaper Company 
here and they are prepared to get out 
a paper with a patent outside and idi- 
otic inside on very short notice. So I 
will rest on my oars. The public will 
soon know what is the matter with me 
because they And out everything, at 
least the newspapers do, and every- 
body reads the papers. I will now call 
the porter to carry my valise to the 
Carroll Hotel. I wonder who the por- 
ter is and if he will know me. I used 
to know a great many of them when I 
lived here twenty years ago, but they 
grow old and move about like other 
classes of men do, trying to better their 
condition. So I touched the electric 
bell, the porter appeared, and who 
should it be but Clint Vaughn, the 
well known porter on the Alabama & 
Vicksburg railroad for many ears. He 
seemed surprised to see me saying: 

Captain Glover, how do you do? ad- 
vancing towards me with his hand ex- 


tended, which I clasped of course, be- 
cause all railroad . men shake hands 
with the old porter when they have not 
seen them for a long time. 

Captain, said Clint, I am sure glad 
to see you. It has been many years 
since we met and it has been some 
hours since I have seen a face in this 
room. I believe the bell-boy was in 
here at 12 noon and the Major about 5 
p.m. The nearest idea, Clint, that I can 
give you of how pleased I am to see 
you is to recall things told me by trav- 
elers on the Great Desert, when day 
after day they would be disappointed 
by mirage after mirage, they would at 
last come to one green spot. I suppose 
you know what a mirage is, Clint? 

“Gh! yes Captain.” “A mirage is like 
the game of the three shells, now you 
see it and now you don’t, and when 
you get there it ain’t there.” 

That’s it, Clint, but I am curious to 
know how you found this out. You 
are not much of a reader.. 

Well, sir, you know General Manager 
Harrison of the Vicksburg & Canton 
Railroad. Well; I goes on his car and 
when we do not know things why he 
tells us. 

That’s right, Clint, the General Man- 
agers often ask the men to explain 
and I think most of them are willing to 
explain also. But, Clint, said I, be- 
fore I enter into any conversation 
with you of any length, I want to ask 
you if there are many of the govern- 
ment offioials down in the office? 

No! said he. I think they are all out 
driving the war horses on the railroad. 

Well, this is a fine moonlight night 
for it. In Bombay we used to do most 
of our driving at night as the sun is 
very hot in the day. Clint is there any 
Other porter here you know that I 
can get to go to the telegraph office 
for me, and to the “Commercial Her- 
ald” and the other papers. I have some 
telegrams here to the New Orleans 
Picayune, and I want to get them off 
tonight? 

Oh, yes. Captain; Byron Legardy is 
here; you knows Bryon, used to run 
on the V., S. & P. R. R. twenty years 
ago. 

Oh, yes, a good colored boy; call him, 
he will do. 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


89 


Clint retired for a few minutes. By- 
ron, said I, after greeting him, here is 
a note for each or the papers of this 
city; also these telegrams to the New 
Orleans and New York papers. You 
go down there and see some one in 
cnarge, give them this note and bring 
me back an answer, also send these 
messages. Here is the money, handing 
him a $5 gold piece to pay for them, 
it concerns the sinking of my fleet of 
ships. I do not wish the account to 
appear tomorrow. I am not attempt- 
ing to muzzle the press, but I have ex- 
plained the matter. No good first-class 
journal is disposed to do any man any 
harm. That’s ail, Byron, said I. You 
may go, I will see you again, and if 
dame fortune sfiles on me once more, 
I will in some way reward you. 

That’s all right. Captain, said' Byron. 
I am always ready to do an old friend 
a favor. 

I believe that, Byron, and there are 
many like you. 

With this he said good night, and 
left me alone, with Clint, who, finding 
the chance to talk, told me of some 
big things which I had not heard be- 
fore. 

Clint,, said I, you used to know me 
when I was a poor man. Then I sup- 
pose you heard I grew rich in India. 

Oh yes; I did Captain, and all the 
boys were glad to her it. 

Well, Clint, I have been rich, but I 
have had great misfortunes, and here 
is the evidence to prove it, drawing out 
the letter. 

General Manager Harrison told me 
you were a going to build you a rail- 
road to Malta, somewhere in south 
of Cape of Good Hope. 

You mean Gautamala City, in South, 
or Central America. 

Yes, dat’s it Oaptain. 

Well, Clint, I will tell you the truth. 
If railroads were selling for one dollar 
a piece, I could not buy the noise from 
the engines 211 and 214. Those are the 
engines that old man Frank Mont- 
gomery and Will Hobson, two well 
known engineers on the A. & V. rail- 
way used to run twenty yeairs ago. I 
suppose they are doing better now, as 
every one about heiro seems to be doing 


well, or have been. In fact, I might 
say they have all flourished like the 
proverbial green bay tree. 

Oh yes; Captain, said Clint, his eyes 
and mouth flying open at the same 
time; did you not hear about it. 

Hear about what, Clint? I have heard 
so much I do not know what you re- 
fer to. 

Why; those ^gentlemen you asked 
about done built em a railroad, from 
Vicksburg to Jackson, and the Ship Is- 
land. 

Why, Clint, you surprise me, 
a line of that length must 
have cost $1,200,000: Where *did they 
get the money? When I knew them, 
twenty yeairs ago, they were poor, but 
honest men, working for wages. 

Well Captain, I do not know all the 
facts, but I hear the line belongs to all 
the engineers in the world, that is, they 
own the stock. I know Mr. Henry A. 
Koch, a well known civil engineer, built 
it for them. 

Well Clint, you seem to be so well in- 
formed about the matter, tell me how 
is the road doing, is she making any 
money. 

Don’t believe so. Cap. I heard Gener- 
al Manager W. L. Harrison say the oth- 
er day he expected they would have to 
sell the road, to pay their grocery bills 
with the Sherard Grocery Co, because 
they had a colored boy named Frank 
Middleton on their private car, and he 
eats up all the surplus after the run- 
ning expenses were paid. 

Well, I should be sorry to see the en- 
gineers make a failure, but then as 
good managers as these are have failed 
before. But Clint you astonish me all 
the same. Surely you cannot be in 
earnest. 

Indeed I am. Besides Captain, a man 
who has seen as much of the world as 
you have, ought not to be surprised at 
any thing. 

That is good logic, Clint. Twenty 
years is a long time and many men to- 
day are knocking off big plums with 
long fishing poles, both in political and 
commercial life, who were to fame and 
fortune unknown. Speaking about 
traveling Clint, I was sitting in this 
room a few days ago, turning back the 
leaves as it were of my life, and I find 


90 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


in the past twenty years I have travel- 
ed 1,400,000 miles, including two trips 
across the Atlantic ocean. That would 
carry a man several times aroun4 the 
globe. I have seen and talked with 
people from every land and clime. I 
have seen them of all degrees of wordly 
wealth, from those who counted it by 
the millions, to those who were so poor 
they could not stop a bread wagon. I 
have seen both men in the cabinet and 
those who put them there, and I do not 
remember that I have ever seen many, 
who, take them up one side and down 
the other, are much better than the 
people of this city of Vicksburg Missis- 
sippi, where, for the second time I have 
come to live. Men are good and bad. 
as those terms go, everywhere. I under- 
stand and from what I have seen, that 
there is now here a population of 300,- 
OO'O, I suppose the bad have increased 
as well as the good, or vice versa. But 
at my age of life I have learned not to 
judge men too harshly and before I hit 
them any sledge hammer blows I will 
take a little look at myself and see if I 
am very much better. This mote busi- 
ness is about the easiest and the mean- 
est business man or woman ever en- 
gaged in. But I will stop moralizing, 
Clint, and will ask you to tell me by 
what title are the gentlemen who now 
manage the Vicksburg, Jackson and 
Ship Island railroad known? Because 
I may meet them and I want to get the 
right handle to their names. 

Why President Prank Montgomery 
and General Manager Hobson. 

Tis well, Clint, and the reason why I 
am so particular about it is this. One 
time I was in Paris and had a little ex- 
perience that has always put me on my 
guard. I was introduced to several gen- 
tlemen and among them was a count. 
He may have been one of those who has 
captured some American girl; at any 
rate I did not talk to him long before 
I found out he was no-a-count. He 
made some remark about the Ameri- 
can people, and in my anxiety to cor- 
rect him, I called him Mister. I did not 
know the old fool was loaded, but he 
rushed out of the room and in a few 
mihtes I w^as challenged to fight a duel. 
Now a French duel is the next slowest 
thing to the United States claim de- 
partment. They always advertise it for 


a year or so, and you have to meet 
your second every morning for two or 
three hours. This is to be sure you 
cannot hit the side of a big house at 
ten feet. I knew all this; my time was 
pressing; I wanted to leave Paris next 
day, so I wrote him, a note that I would 
meet him that night at the Grand 
opera house and fight him with butcher 
cleavers or broad swords and signed my 
name Capt. Glover, of Texas. I never 
heard any more from it. I got a friend 
and went to the place named in my 
note, but the count did not show up. 

Why, Captain, said Clint, looking at 
me in surprie as I walked the fioor, be- 
cause I was very tired, having been in 
doors all day, I did not know you would 
fight a duel. 

Did I not tell you I did not; all that 
is necessary as a rule is for one of the 
parties to know that the other will 
fight, and wants to fight and that will 
end it. At least that is the way it 
works in Paris. I do not know if it 
would go here or not. My business in 
Paris was to get the man who took 
Worth’s place, the world’s famous 
dressmaker, to come to Bombay and 
deliver us an address on farming. But 
Clint, I did not call you up here to tell 
you of my own exploits, I want to find 
some work in a few days, now that I 
am a poor man again, and I want to 
ask about my old friends, and find out, 
if I can, what they are doing for them- 
selves. I want to know first what ever 
become of my old friend Hugh Curry, a 
gentleman well known in this city as 
the roadmaster of the A. & V. railroad 
for many years. I hope ‘he has not been 
in politics since last I saw him. Every- 
body about here seems to have been 
connected with the government in some 
way for the past twenty years. 

To this question Clint replied that 
Mr. Curry was for a while on the “Sil- 
ver Plated Railroad,” had a big fine job. 
This railroad, he said, was somewhere 
up in Tennessee, run somewhere near 
the great Q. & C., belonged to the Sil- 
ver Plate Syndicate, composed of gen- 
tlemen whose exploits and fame you 
will hear a great deal about as we 
progress with this story. 

Clint, I was thinking of having you 
to carry my valise to the Carroll Ho- 
tel, but on reflection I think I will re- 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


91 


main here until to-morow night. My 
week will then be up. I will take a lit- 
tle run over to Jackson, Miss. I learn 
the lightning express from Shreveport, 
La., passes here at 6 a.m. I have 
thought of presenting this charter and 
other franchises to the “Silver Plate 
Syndicate,” but I do not wish to 
bankrupt the company. I will go over 
and see ex-Senator John M. Stone. I 
used to know him very well when he 
was the able and excellent Governor of 
the State of Mississippi. I believe the 
necessities of comerce demand the con- 
struction of the Vicksburg and Central 
American railroad, and that gentle- 
man will be able to tell me if he thinks 
Congress will do anything in this mat- 
ter for me. J do not believe he ever de- 
ceived a man in his life. Besides I do 
not know what the “Silver Blate Syn- 
dicate” will give me for it; men are 
very uncertain and since I was so de- 
ceived by the Prince of Wales with the 
way he sold me out and left me to cut 
my way out like I would have to do if 
I were surrounded by a lot of wild 
beasts, for they were no better when it 
came to a matter of dollars, I have 
learned to be careful. Then I want to 
be^ the general manger myself, but if I 
have no interest, no stock, or no 
bonds, why. I will have to take what 
they are a mind to give me, and try and 
be contented. The hour now is 12 p.m. 
I supose the gentlemen from the White 
Squadron have all come in by this time 
or they will drive the war horses to 
death. So Clint you come back here at 
10 o’clock Monday night. I will return 
on the train that passes here at 9:30 
p.m. on its way to the Pacific Ocean, 
so here is a couple of Railroad King 
cigars for you. I got them at the ban- 
quet last night, I suppose you know 
what they cost? 

Oh, yes; Captain, isaid he, I do, one 
dollar a piece. I’se gowing to take a 
run down to Meridian, and when I gets 
with dem colored gents I’ll pull one 
out and light it. The other one I’ll trade 
it off for a box of cigars and I’ll smoke 
like the engine 225. 

Clint, 'Said I here is $2.50, go and or- 
der up my supper; that’s what I have 
been paying. I dislike to part with that 
much money now, hut I must keep up 
appearances, thjough I may he tramp- 
ing before a week. Its the same old 


story, Clint; economy when you are 
broke, and extravagance when you 

have money.' Tell me the effects, and 
ninety-nine cases in a hundred I will 
tell you the cause. To this gloomy 
philosophy Clint replied: No, never, 

Capt. Glover, you will never tramp, ex- 
cept through choice. This is now too 
prosperous a city and country. The 
The Silver Plate syndicate will take 
care of you. You ain’t seen nothing, 
you ain’t heard nothing; wait until 

you comes back from Jackson. With 

this he laughed a ibig laugh peculiar to 
his -race, and was gone. 

In a few minutes the waiter appeared 
bringing me my supper. I ate hearty, 
dismissed my woes and was soon wrap- 
ed in the arms of Morpheus, not mor- 
phine, for I do not use the drug. 

About 6 a.m. I was awakened by the 
shrill noise of a locomotive and look- 
ing out of my< window I saw the light- 
ning express dashing across the great 
Q. & C. bridge over the Mississippi 
River, opposite the Refuge Oil Mills. 
I was half sorry I had changed my 
mind, about going over to Jackson, and 
decided that I would write to ex-Sen- 
ator stone, which I did, telling him 
I had been induced to do so, because 
I saw by looking over the Congression- 
al Record and a letter I had that he fa- 
vored this matter when he was in the 
Senate. The matter had been sent him 
by my friend. General Wm. Henry, of 
Jackson, who was the General of the 
State Militia, when he was the Gov- 
ernor twenty years ago. This I felt 
would cause him to remember me, for 
I had written to General Henry from 
Bombay telling him of my plans about 
this railroad to Gautamala City, and 
he wrote me at Bombay. I will here 
insert the letter, so you will see that 
this matter has been before the peo- 
ple for some time, and their disap- 
pointment will be as great as mine: 

“Headquarters 
‘^Mississippi Nationl Guard, 
“Wm. Henry Adjutant GeneraJ, 
“Jackson, Miss., March 30, 1910. 
“Capt. John. B. Glover, Bombay, India: 

“My Dear Sir — Yours of January 10th 
came promptly to hand, I have delayed 
answering, awaiting to hear from 
Washington, where I sent letter. 


92 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R, 


I am in receipt of one this day from 
►Senator Stone, iniorming' me mat the 
resolutions requested by you about 
your Vicksburg and Central American 
jrcaiiroaa passed the Senate all right, 
i explained to him thati all you wished 
was national recognition of this matter; 
that you did not wisn to make any raid 
on the United States Treasury, having 
ampie means of your own to construct 
the line, in tnis connection the Senator 
says he does not tnink there would 
be any trouble in floating about three 
millions of the bonds of the road, pro- 
vided you may wish to make any lan- 
cy touches or ‘Silver Plate’ her. He 
also says that the construction of the 
line will be one of the most important 
acts in the history of this government 
uniting with Indisoiuitabie bands of 
steel the continents of North and 
South America. I suppose from what 
you know of the Senator he stands rea- 
dy to do all he can to advance the in- 
terest of capital and labor. This is no 
sterotype remark with him. He means 
it. Permit me. Captain, to also say I 
trust we will soon see you back tO' your 
old home, Vicksburg, and your native 
land, America. You make some mention 
of the fact that your warm, personal 
friend and associate in business, the 
Prince of Wales, does not wish you to 
return. Do not let this deter you, or 
in any way change your plans. We 
would like to have you begin here in 
Jackson, as this has now grown to be 
quite a railroad center, but, perhaps, 
on the banks of the great inland sea 
will be best. ]^ishing you a safe re- 
turn and that you will call and see 
me. 

‘T am your friend, 

“WM. HENRY.” 

Now that’s the kind of a hair pin the 
General is, ready to pull for everything 
good for his town. TTve years have 
now passed since this letter was writ- 
ten. Now these are the kind of letters 
I have in my trunk, giving me the 
greatest encouragement. What I now 
dislike, is to go back to congress, and 
try to thrust my hand into the Treas- 
ury, foir there may be nothing there. 
If I could live again in the years 1S93-94 


I would not care, because at that time 
•there were 'thousands of men |who 
thought Congress should do everything 
for us, run our railroads, help us out 
when we made bad financial bargains, 
pay us a bounty on our cotton otr sugar 
and feed our children, and educate 
them from the National Treasury. Give 
us free silver, free trade, free passes, 
on all the railroads and free lunch and 
free whisky. But matters are now dif- 
ferent, I hope. I have met a good many 
men since I arrived in this city, and 
not one of them have said a word about 
free silver. I hope it is not a question 
before the people, the United Sfates, 
with its 150 millions, and few men ought 
now to be found to* advocate any such 
tomfoolery. Now and then men will 
take up such things for social amuse- 
ment, like they would any other theory. 
I saw one day while in Eondon, that 
Senator Henry M. Teller, the man who 
run for' ;!Presiident ion the pljatform 
with one plank in it, built himself a 
silver gallows to hang himself, but 
finally concluded he would not. 

While on the platform matter, I will 
tell you a good story I once heard 
while traveling in South Louisiana be- 
fore I left America. It was when Mur- 
phy J. Poster and Samuel D. McEnery 
were candidates for Governor. At a lit- 
tle station two colored men entered the 
car and began to talk politics. I can- 
not vote for Mike Henry, said one. 
Why not, said the other. I do not like 
his flatform. Oh, dats nothing, said No. 
One. The flatform is what the man 
gets in on. You see these cars? Yes, 
said No. Two. Well there is the flat- 
form at both ends; the passengers 
comes in on both, but cannot ride on 
the flatform, but must ride inside of the 
cars. Finding they could not agree, 
they appealed to me, to which I replied 
that where both were Democrats or 
Republicans it was nearly always a 
question of men, and not of methods. 

But the day wore pleasantly on. I 
took a ride on the electric cars, wrote 
to the Prince, also sent him a cable. 
Congressman Banks called but said 
nothing about the money question, or 
the distinguished services he had 
rendered the “Silver Plate Company” 
and the whole civilized world. Got my 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 


93 


check cashed at the office of the hotel, 
had my dinner, and supper, which cost 
me $10. This cut a big- hole in my lit- 
tle funds. Read the Commercial Her- 
ald and the Ro.st, saw they had treated 
me all right. The New Orleans Pica- 
yune made a small personal of my being 
at Vicksburg. Under the circumstan- 
ces this pleased me. At last 10 p.m, 
came and a knock on my door. Come 
in, said /I, and in walked Clint, the man 
who told me of some big things, and 
wonderful things also. They may shake 
your faith in human testimony, but 
they are the truth, and are all possible. 

Captain, how did you pass the day at 
Jackson. 

I did not go, Clint. I concluded it 
would do no good. I have passed the 
greater part of the day in my room, 
and waiting for the time to come for 
you to be here and tell me something 
about that “iSilver Plate Syndicate” 
that I see so much about in the papers 
Somehow, I feel like the existence of 
this company will change my plans 
and give me a name which I feel that I 
will be known by in the future. 

Well Captain, it is just this. They 
call it that cause the engines is all sil- 
ver plated, and cause the mucloge. 

■Nebula, you mean. 

Yes, that’s it. It was the finding of 
the lost “Silver treasure of the Span- 
ish government,” between the Glass 
Bayou and the National Cemetery, by 
President Coppage and General Mana- 
ger W. R. Haynes, a gentleman well- 
known as the train master of the A. & 
V. railroad twenty years ago. 

Great Scotts, said I, bounding from 
the chair; you do not mean to tell me 
that the Spanish treasure was found. 
Why, when I was a little boy I used to 
hear about the buried treasure above 
this city. But you know Clint I have 
been out of the country for twenty 
years, and have only been here in 
Vicksburg one week this morning, and 
my time has been so taken up, seeing 
the city and hearing of the political 
prosperity of my old friends, that I 
have not found the time to ask about 
my old railroad friends, though I have 
seen General Manager Harrison and 
been up to Canton with him, but go on, 
tell me all about it. Make it brief and 


I will make such comments as I may 
think ne'cessary. 

Well Cap., about ten years ago, the 
gentlemen mentioned, with General 
Manager George L. Gurley, of the Y. & 
M. V. railroad, all went hunting and 
fishing at a big Long Lake, and on re- 
turning home they walked up the elec- 
tric line to a spot where the “Whistling 
Dick” stood, a famous Confederate, 
cannon, now in the National museum 
at Washington, D. C. This is a high 
bluff and they were all talking about 
the time the steamers Robt. E. Lee and 
Natchez made the great race in 1870. 

Never mind, Clint about the Lee and 
Natchez. They are where we will all 
be when we are gone — forgotten. 

Well Cap., these gentlemen all walk- 
ed off and took the cars and when they 
looked at their watches, they had all 
stopped just at the time when they 
reached the site of this world famous 
spot. President Coppage said he was 
sure they were near some great treas- 
ury of “gold and silver,” for he had 
read that metals in large quantities, 
would affect the running of a watch. 
He said he first found this out many 
years ago, when he went to be a train 
dispatcher. He used to carry so much 
gold in his pockets, he could not keep 
any time, so he always paid his out. 
The other gentlemen gave the same rea- 
sons for parting with theirs. So one 
day they held a council of war. 

On poverty? 

Yes, Sir, that’s it, and concluded they 
would dig it up. So one bright moon- 
light night they took me and Willis 
Jones, a porter on the V. S. & P. R. R.. 
and six others and we got spades and 
block and tackle from Taylor Fergu- 
son’s bridge gang, so we went out there. 
Here Clint became so much interested 
in this story, that he got down on his 
knees like he was going to pray for me. 
So we went out there, and when we all 
got where the watches all stopped, we 
all looked at our watches, all of us — 
General Manager Bob Chapman, then 
of the V. S. & P. R. R., and a well 
known conductor, told us to dig. When 
we had gon down about 10 feet, Willis 
stopped. You know Captain, Willis is 
a real black man. 


94 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R, 


That’s right Clint, a true representa- 
tive of the race. 

Well, Sir; he turned almost white and 
said he would not dig him up for all 
Vicksburg and Chicago thrown in. 
cause Judge Voller would send him to 
the pen for a 100 years. Then we all 
got kind of weak in the knees, cause 
you know. Captain Glover, niggers 
aint got no time for grave yards, when 
the moon is shining. 

But Clint, said I, getting interested 
myself, you are digressing. What did 
>ou do? 

Why General Manager Haynes said 
boys, that’s no dead man; but a box of 
money, been there this 250 years; get 
it out quick, and you’ll all get $1,000 
apiece. 

Well, Cap. you should have seen us 
darkies work. In 20 minutes we had 
that box out and on a dray, and gone 
to the Union depot on Washington 
boulevard. That night they opened 
the same. What do you think it had in 
it? Two billion eight hundred millions 
of silver coin; fifty millions of gold, and 
dat aint all Cap. Them gentlemen had 
so many friends that they could not 
sleep. The possession of this money 
did not seem to trouble them in the 
least, but friends. Oh! Captain, they 
liked to eat them up. 

Well Clint, said I getting up from the 
chair, and more fully appreciating the 
great gulf that would now be between 
me and them, now that my ships were 
gone, and I made this remark: That 
was not strange. When men have money 
they have friends. But I am pleased to 
get this information, first because the 
question of the buried treasure is no(w 
settled, and will in no way trouble fu- 
ture generations. When a troublesome 
question is settled, the people breathe 
easy for a while. But, Clint, I am 
going to trip you up now, by applying 
a physical law to what you have said. 
In the first place there is not a chain in 
the world that would hold that much 
weight. Then there is not a hoisting 
engine in the world that could lift it. 
after it had been made fast. Then 
there is not a locomotive in the United 
States that could move it on a leveL 
What have you to say to this? 

Oh! Captain, sure they did not take 
it all out that night, the first box only 


weighed 500 pounds. That was full of 
gold, and in that box was a note say- 
ing that near there was a long big shaft 
full of boxes of silver; and they were 
taking them out of there for several 
years, you see. 

'Well, Clint, that sounds more like 
it, but if that much silver has been 
added to the stock on hand twenty 
years ago, its ratio to gold must be 145 
to 1, and the free silver men may as 
well go and hang their harps on willow 
trees. 

But I cannot see how it was that they 
should have wasted any money in the 
building of a railroad up in Tennessee. 
This matter of my contemplated line, 
from New Orleans to Vicksburg to Cen- 
tral America, has been before the peo- 
ple in the form of a canal scheme and 
I should have been pleased to have co- 
operated with them if they had com- 
municated with me. But I will not be 
hasty in passing my judgment, until 'I 
know all the facts. Of course every 
man thinks he could do better with 
some other man’s money than they 
can do themselves. That’s where our 
egotism comes in, and I will say this al- 
so, that the wealth of Croesus must 
soon vanish if poorly managed and 
badly invested, and to be emphatic, I 
must say that was a poor investment. 
I do not know where she was to run or 
anything about the matter, but the 
name “The Silver Railroad,” was 
enough to ruin her, even with old Sen- 
ator Stewart and Teller. I certainly 
thought better of the judgment of those 
gentlemen who discovered this “Span- 
ish treasury” with its two billion, eight 
hundred millions of silver and its fifty 
millions of gold. 

To this Clint replied: Why, Captain, 
surely you do not feel sorry that your 
friends found those boxes, do you? - 

No, I do not, Clint. I envy no man, 
neither his wealth or his talents, but I 
do not always approve of the judg- 
ments of even my best friends. But 
tell me how it was and I may change 
my opinion. 

Well, said Clint, straightening himself 
back in pompous style, it was this way: 
They was all railroad men and when 
they found money they all wanted to 
buy them a railroad. They tried ex- 
President Depew of the New York Cen- 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


95 


tral and Hudson river, and offered him 
all this big lot of silver, and he refused. 
Then they tried Mr. C. C. Harvey, the 
President of the great Q. & C. and 
wanted the whole line. He referred the 
matter to the general manager, Rich- 
ard Carroll, and he said it could not be 
thought of, but he would send the mat- 
ter down to the superintendent. 

Well, what did he say about it 

Why he said they would take the fif- 
ty millions in gold in part payment. 
He’s a gold bug. But the only way to 
make that much silver go would be to 
silver plate all the engines and oars. 
He would make it as a suggestion, as 
the gentlemen were all his friends. He 
also said that fifty millions would help 
out most anything in this country. 

Clint, you said a few moments ago 
that business was so dull at one time, 
and for so long that some of the stock- 
holders forgot what money looked like. 

No sir, I did not say that. Captain, 
but I expect it was that way. 

But, Clint, I know business must 
have got better, not only in this city 
but all over this country. I see by the 
Picayune that New’ York has become 
the greater. Chicago has no more 
boodle aldermen since W. T. Stead 
wrote a book and told them what would 
be thought of them “If Christ Came to 
Chicago-.’'’ The government endorsed 
the bonds of the Nicaragua canal and 
did some other big things in the way of 
helping out public enterprises. New 
Orleans has a great bridge over the 
Mississippi river and the Queen and 
Crescent occupy a $50,000 depot at the 
corner of Basin and Canal streets, and 
did not have to bribe anyone to get 
there. There is also one here. This 
shows that not only did business get 
better, but men got so also. 

Oh, yes; Captain, business was bound 
to get betteir. People will wear out 
their clothes and eat up their farm pro- 
ducts and wear out their shoes and 
thougih this is a land where you can go 
barefooted if you want to. But people 
aint going to do. so. Some men will al- 
ways work and then they will have 
what they want. 

That’s right, Clint, said I. You are 
something of a philosopher. But to re- 
turn to the gentleman of the “Silver 


Plate Syndicate,” I suppose they have 
good positions themselves, and they pay 
good wages. 

Oh, yes. Captain, said he. Five dollars 
a day to the conductors, $5 a day to the 
engineers, $1.50 a day to the track men. 

Too bad; too bad! Clint, said I, bow- 
ing my head in my hands. Dost my 
India vrailroad, lost my fieet of ships, 
and now robbed of the honor of solving 
the labor question on the railroads; 
and that too by my friends. That was 
my solution of the question long ago; 
viz: Good wages; but. then great minds 
run in the same channel and that is 
some consolation. But I do not feel so 
sorry for myself, as I do for Eugene V. 
Debbs and lall the walking delegtes, 
including the world renowned Gen. Cox- 
ey. I always thought the “Silver Plate 
Company” would do the proper thing 
by the working men, for without the 
loyal assistance of them the success of 
no enterprise in this world is possible. 

Captain, said he; after I had praised 
him to get him to talk, did you ever 
know what makes big lawyers and 
bankers. Cabinet officers, and the Gov- 
ernors. Used to be so hard on the 
workingman, when he would make a 
strike, and try in that way to better 
his condition. 

No, I do not, Clint. I always sup- 
posed it was only their angelic dispo- 
sition. 

Oh, no. Captain, nothing like that. 

Well, wlhat was it then? 

Nothing, Captain, but the good pay 
they gits. 

Indeed, I never thought of that be- 
fore. May be there is more in that 
than we suppose. Now, Clint, you have 
made a witness out of me. I shall make 
one out of you, but your race do not 
give much trouble, but what I say to 
you will apply to white mien who work 
for a living, and I hoipe they will give 
heed to it. I have been a workingman 
myself, then a banker, then a General 
Manager, and now a workingman 
again, for I will have to go to work, as 
I have nothing and I do not wish for 
anyone to take care of me, so long as 
I have health and sitrength, for there 
is not a lazy bone in my body. My 


96 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 


question is this, did you . ever know 
what makes working-men hate and en- 
vy their employers, and strike and 
tear up and .burn their property? 

Cause they do not treat them right. 
Captain. 

No, Clint, mot that; labor has now got 
to be a commodity like cotton, and 
wheat, and is now governed by the 
laws of supply and demand. That is 
No. 1. Then the working men are ex- 
travagant. Take a man with a salary 
of $50 a month he wants to put on as 
much style as if he got a hundred. 
That’s No. 2. Then there is the dema- 
gogue, who is always ding donging in 
his ears, tha tthe rich men, and the 
rich corporations, are robbing him, and 
his imaginations and his prejudices are 
appealed to, and not his reason. That’s 
the third. Then in many cases he is 
ignorant; that is his own fault. The 
world is full of good books filled with 
the best thoughts of the philosophers 
and statesmen of the world. These 
he never reads. He devours with hun- 
ger, like the wolf, such things as 
“Ceasar’s Column,” and the “Coming 
Climax,” and the trash in the Railway 
Times, Debb’s sheet, and the foolish 
nonsense of “Looking Backward.” Did 
you ever hear of that gentleman, Clint, 
and do you know if the people of 
Shreveport, or Monrioe, La., have adopt- 
ed his ideas? My week’s residence here 
satisfied me that the people of Vicks- 
burg have not, for when I want a rail- 
road King C_gar, I send a dollar up 
to Col. Bob. Henderspn, the well known 
dealer at the Piazza Hotel, and he sends 
it to me. 

To this question he replied O^! yes 
Cap. I done heard of Mr. Bellamy, he 
was the man who wrote something in 
the book about meal tickets, and if you 
lost your ticket, you had to go hungry 
unless you could steal or borrow some 
other man’s ticket. They call that the 
liniment time. 

You mean the millennium. 

Yes Sir; something like it. Well, 
Clint, said I, he did not put it exactly 
that way, but that was the gist of the 
matter. I see you have heard of him — 
but I cannot discuss this labor problem 
with you any more'at present, I suppose 


I will have to put the gloves on with 
some big men before I am done with 
this. But it is now getting late, I must 
move from this hotel this night. I am 
going to The Carroll Hotel. I have en- 
gaged room 226 there for $50 a month, 
but before you go I want to ask you 
a few questions, then I am done with 
you for the present, and I do not want 
you to tell me any of those “Munchau- 
sen’s of yours. I want the whole truth 
and nothing but that, for I have got to 
look about and get me a job. My ques- 
tion is this: When those gentlemen of 
the “Silver Plate .Company found they 
could not buy any of the big railroads 
in this country for silver exclusively, 
they did not go out of business, or 
clothe themselves in sackcloth and 
ashes; for I see by the papers, they are 
in it big. Do you know any of the por- 
ters of their private cars, and did you 
ever hear them say anything about 
what the big men say, not small things. 
I want to hear of big things, such as 
the buying of new lines or the building 
of new railroads. Those are proper 
subjects for discussion by the round 
houses, cabooses and baggage cars. 

Yes, Cap. I knows Lawrence Cornell, 
you will remember him, used to run 
on the Pullman cars twenty years ago. 

Oh yes, everybody remembers the old 
porter who travels on the train or who 
stops at hotels — well what did Law- 
rence tell you? 

He told me they was all coming down 
from Cincinnati and he heard President 
Coppage say that it was the greatest 
thing for the civilized world when con- 
gress passed that bill for Congressman 
W. B. Banks of Mississippi granting the 
company 1,400 million of good gold 
bonds and them 400 millions acres of 
land. 


CHAPTER X. 

CLINT CONTINUES HIS STORY. 

For the building of the Great New 
Orleans, Vicksburg, North American, 
European and Oriential Railroad, Gen- 
manager R. A. Lybrook, the well 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


97 


known Train Dispatcher, went over to 
St. Petersburg, and seen the Czar of 
all the Russians, and he saidi he would 
help to build from the Behring Strait, 
if they would bring it up there, that 
Spain, Prance, England and Germany 
would all give money and bonds to com- 
plete this, the greatest Railroad line 
in the world. 

“Shades of Jules Verne defend me!” 
said I, getting up from the chair like a 
man would who had heard a clap of 
thunder, and saw a vivid flash of light- 
ning from a clear sky Are they going 
to build that railroad. 

Done done it. Captain. I just telling 
you about the conversation they all 
had ten years ago. 

Well, Clint, facts are facts, and there 
is no need to be startled by them, for 
I know it is so, because when I was 
in London six weeks ago, I incidentally 
heard at the Stock Exchange that a 
party of capitalist, somewhere in Mis- 
sissippi, had done some such thing. 
The Prince wanted to tell me about it, 
but I was SO vexed at him about the 
way he done me that what he said to 
me went in one ear and out the other, 
just -like when you try to talk to a 
“free silver man.” But tell me, were 
there any others present when the Pres- 
ident of the Great Oriental Railroad 
was talking, for by this he will be 
known? 

Yos, Colonel Bill Ferguson, the well 
known Roadmaster of the V., S. & P. 
R. R., was there, and he said that E. 
L. Doftin, a welil known bridge builder 
of the Q. & C., could bridge that creek 
(the Behring Straits) over in two weeks; 
but it was decided afterward, on ac- 
count of the ice, to tunnel the same, 
and they done done it, and all the 
world, and the whole town seejned to 
know it except you; been done now 
these ten years; the President can tell 
you all about it. 

Yes, he shall, said I, for I will see 
him, tomorrow; but 1 have been no 
different from thousands of men who 
read so little, they do not know what 
is going on in this great world in which 
we live. But, Clint, said I, getting up 
and beginning to walk the floor, that 
my thoughts might flow freely. Had 


I have had a theme like that, thrown 
to me at some time when I was stand- 
ing before ten thousand people and 
they were drinking in every word I 
said, like it was all true, I could have 
made a speech that would have made 
old Dan Webster turn green with envy. 
Already the thoughts crowd on my 
brain, and I am almost tempted to 
give them. 

Do so. Captain; I would like to hear 
you myself. This audience is small; 
it’s like throwing a one hundred foot 
sail in a ten foot lake, but the world 
may see, and read, what I am' going to 
make this speech about, who can tell; 
let her go Captain. 

Then, said I, if they have done that, 
meaning the “Silver Plate Syndicate,” 
then will their names go ringing 
down the long and broad corridors of 
time, and they will be remembered as 
the Heroes of Peace and will inherit 
that eternal fame which the archieves 
of blood and courage, such as Alexan- 
der the Great, Caesar and Napoleon, 
will look for, but in vain, throughout 
the mist of an endless eternity. But 
let me try, and conceive, if I can, what 
is now embraced in a fifty thousand 
mile syetem of railway, that binds 
zones, and well nigh encircles this 
globe, and in an infinitely grand a man- 
ner it vanquishes nature, than did 
Napoleon when he crossed the Alps. 
We now behold civilization, encircled 
with bands of glistening steel, her 
hands are full of electric wires, the 
Occident shakes with the Orient; steam- 
whistles are now shrieking in .Terusalem 
and express trains from Vicksburg, 
Miss., and New Orleans, La., are now 
flying around the Pyramids of Egypt, 
and are penetrating the political atono- 
rai-i^s that were contemporaneous with 
Assyria and Babylon, which have with- 
stood the shocks and decays of fifty 
centuries, are now touching elbows in 
the grand phalanx of this twentieth 
century march of progress. When this 
piece of eloquence, plagarized in part, 
was gotten off, he looked at me in as- 
tonishment. 

Why, Oapt. Glover, said he, you have 
not forgotten how to make a speech. 

No; I have not. I asked you for 


98 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


something' hlg, and you certainly gave 
it to me. 

Oh, yes, captain; President Coppage 
says dat’s the biggest thing on wheels 
on earth; something like fifty thousand 
miles. 

But, Clint, said I, looking at my 
watch, the hour is now 12 p.m. The in- 
formation I have received this night, 
changes my whole plans for the future, 
for if President Coppage and his friends 
have run their hands into the Na- 
tional Treasury to the amounts you 
tell me, there is nothing there for me, 
I knew something has been wrong 
with that department for some time; 
but it is now all made clear. So I 
will have to give them the charter for 
my' railroad and try and get some kind 
of a position with them. So take this 
$50, go down in the office and pay my 
bill, carry my valise to The Carroll Ho- 
tel; the other things can remain here 
until tomorrow, when I will send for 
them. With this Clint lifted my valise 
from the floor and started towards the 
door. 

Before you go, Clint, said I, I want 
to thank you for this information, and 
at the same time apologize to the read- 
er for this long chapter, but I found 
it impossible to bring out all of these 
facts in any other way or from any 
other witness, but this statement was 
afterwards coroborated by many others 
and will stand because it is so. 

Clint, do you think the President will 
do anything for me on that Great Ori- 
ental Bailroad; I do not want anything 
on the silver one. T have heard so 
much about silver since I got back to 
America that if T was not afraid Judge 
Bruini would hang me I would shoot 
the first man that said silver to me. 
When I left this country that was the 
question, and now. twenty years after, 
it is up again. I do hope I will not be 
called on to give my opinion: if I do,' I 
will use the same argument I did then. 
To mv question Clint assured me that 
the President, knowing my ability to 
run a great railroad, would. 

He vanished through the door, and 
you will not see him again. I looked 
again at my eHegant 'apartments. 


where I had seen both joy and grief, 
in one short week, and bidding them 
farewell I left them forever, though 
not without hope, that great anchor, 
which holds man on _this earth when 
all about him seems dark and gloomy, 
and though I gained much prominence, 
as you will see, I learned a .valuable 
lesson, that birds never fly so high that 
they do not have to come down for wa- 
ter, and that all wealth is only transi- 
tory. When our ships of life are sail- 
ing with the wind, we may 'at 'any time 
strike the roeks and hear the billows 
roar over our heads. I walked down 
the steps and through the rotunda, 
and out upon the street. At the corner 
Congressman A. H. Longino was try- 
ing to convice some man that silver 
was not a legal tender. He did not see 
me, so I passed. When oppoisiite the 
twenty-four story building of the “Val- 
ley Dry Goods Company,” I asked a 
stranger if Dave Herman still kept the 
restaurant at the corner of Clay and 
Washington boulevard? He replied 
that he did. The proprietor is a well 
known gentleman of the city and was 
on watch. He recognized me immedi- 
ately, though twenty years had passed 
since last we met, saying, he wonder- 
ed why T had not been in before; that 
he saw in the “New Orleans Picayune” 
that Capt. Glover’s fleet of ships had 
passed through the Suez canal, en route 
to New Orleans and Vicksburg, and 
that I was going to build the Central 
American Railroad r that if I wished 
to give any wine suppers to influence 
favorable legislation, why his house 
was at my disposal. 

I saw that he was in total ignorance 
of my true condition, and as bad news 
always travel fast enough, I thought I 
would let him wait until the next day. 
when perhaps all would be known, T 
then told him I was very hungry and 
would like some quiet place where T 
would not be disturbed. He called 
Charlie, his old waiter, and told him to 
take Captain Glover to the private 
rooms of the ex-Cabinet officers and to 
give him one of those “Delmonico sup- 
pers,” saying he would join me in a 
few minutes. 

I was just ready to begin to appease 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


99 


my hung-er, when I was joined hy the 
genial proprietor of the Senators’ re- 
sort, as his house was then known. He 
chatted pleasantly with me for a long 
time, asking me how I liked the city 
after the great changes which I have 
told you off. I told him that all parts 
of this great country was the garden 
spot oif the world to me, and for that 
reason I had returned, from India, 
where I had lived for the past twenty 
years. He told me of many things I 
had not heard of before, and closed by 
telling me that President Coppage and 
his friends, had a wine supper that 
night, as they were in the city with a 
view of closing the gap in the great 
Oriental Railroad, the same being then 
completed from the Hot Springs, Ark., 
to the Behring Strait and thence to St. 
Petersburg, in Russia, details of which 
I received the next day from the Pres- 
ident himself. I then bid him good 
night, going to the Carroll Hotel. I 
asked the clerk. Major Frank Law- 
rence, to send me up paper and ink, as 
I proposed before retiring to‘ write to 
the President of the Great Oriental 
Railway making a formal application 
for a position of some kind, which I did, 
and it did not meet the fate of most of 
those kind of letters, vis, the waste 
basket. Before I wrote the letter I had 
a hard struggle with myself to part 
with the power and glory that seemed 
so near me only a few days before. I 
found that human nature in Captain 
Glover was as large as in most men. 
But at last I took the philosopher’s 
view of the matter, that railroads and 
factories must be built with money, 
and mine had then dwinded down to 
the sum of ten dollars. I had some 
landed interest in Bombay, but as I 
said before, the government was going 
to begin its mill to grind out “elastic 
currency,” at least there were many 
who wished it, or thought they did, and 
it was hard to tell what it was going 
to be worth. My decision came at last, 
and I never regretted it, though mat- 
ters took a turn very unexpectedly to 
me. I found that I did not know all 
that was going on in this world, as I 
supposed I did. I knew some kind of 
railway building was going on in Si- 
beria, but I never heard a word of the 
Vicksburg Oriental Railroad, while I 


was in New York, or in Chicago; but 
then the matter was ten years old, and 
subjects ten years old are somewhat 
stale in these great United States. I 
wrote my letters, sealed them up, and 
calling the bell boy, told him to hand 
them to the President and went to bed 
to dream of the time when I would 
walk the dells and ring the bells as a 
passenger conductor on the Great Ori- 
ental Railroad. 

As I have said before,,! was a man ot 
temperate habits, and while I sit up 
late at times, I never drink, so a few 
hours of rest always did me, and I 
was up with the sun, and as fresh as a 
lark. I looked from the window, and 
saw many of the well-to-do driving 
down the boulevard and towards the 
National Cemetery, north of the city; 
the electric oars were full of people, on 
their way to the different mills, and fac- 
tories, especially the cotton mills. I 
felt that the day was to be to me, as it 
will to you, an eventful one,for I was to 
meet the President of the Big Oriental 
Railway, and learn the truth of all I 
had heard. I was to learn whether I 
would Stay in the city, or tramp out. I 
could see from the appearance of the 
people in the cars that the most of them 
were working people. They are the 
foundations on which all prosperity and 
stability in government and commerce 
rest. Few can occupy the summit of 
the shaft at the same time; but if the 
foundations are good, then they may 
remain, but if they are weak, and out 
of balance, the shaft may become top 
heavy and fall to the ground. Now the 
manager had told me that there were 
at least ten thousand people in the city 
daily employed at good wages. I did 
not ask him what he meant by good 
wages, but I suppose he meant from $1 
to $3 per day, which measured by the 
“gold standard” is good wages. Of 
course this does not compare with cab- 
inet officers or even ambassador to 
F];;ance. 

I thought the manager had stretched 
the matter a little, like most people do 
about the population of their city. I 
do not suppose there are a dozen men 
in the world who ever told the truth 
about how many people their city had; 
even if they knew. We all like to brag. 
When I used to ask a man how many 


100 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


people his city had— that was big- cit- 
ies — I would follow up the question, 
about the unemployed. To me it was 
the crime of crimes to be always invit- 
ing the people to the city, when there 
was nothing for them to do, for their 
refuge at last was the King’s Daugh- 
ters. I used to think I would start me 
a paper and devote its columns to try- 
ing to get people to keep out of the cit- 
ies unless employment could be provid- 
ed for them. These conditions in New 
York caused Henry George to write his 
book on the “Single Tax” as the solu- 
tion of the “Labor Problem” of the 
world, which made for him a reputa- 
tion as a thinker and writer and caus- 
ed the organization of the “Anti-Pov- 
erty Society.” I suppose it all went up 
in wind; for after all these, years I 
learned while in thalt city, that they 
still had some pinching poverty. It is 
like Major Lee Richardson says, that 
prosperity is nearly always a local as 
well as an individual matter. While I 
was sitting by my window, soloquising 
and enjoying the IMay breeze that came 
in contact with my bald head, I took 
out my pencil and made a little rough 
estimate. One thousand men at $2 a 
day meant $12,000 a week, or $50,000 per 
month. This multiplied by twelve, the 
months of the year, gives $600,000,000. 
This will give you a fair idea of what 
a few or many working people are 
worth to a city. I do not mean loafers. 
I mean people who work, and who are 
sober, intelligent and frugal, as I have 
every reason to believe the people of 
this city are now. With this I got up 
from the window where I had been 
pleasantly entertained, by things and 
thoughts before me and descending the 
stairway I prepared for the days doings 
which I will now give you. 

You will now be able to see, from 
what I have told you, that I was no 
sardine, but a man with a checkered 
experience and somewhat given to 
thought and reflection. I always man- 
aged to get into good company and 
when I was employed, it was by the 
best men in the country, or the best 
corporations. I never had any time to 
spare with fakes or frauds. I was sat- 
isfled this Great Oriental Railroad was 
the next biggest thing to the earth it- 
self, and that was why I wished to 


get with them, which I did, as you 
will see. But we will go on. When in 
the rotunda I walked over to the news 
stand of Joe Pox and bought the morn- 
ing Commercial Herald and the Post, 
and on opening them found to my sur- 
prise that they were full of things 
about the Great Oriental. They also 
made some allusions to the fact that I 
had been heard talking to Captain A. 
L. Pearce, a well known civil engineer, 
about a bridge over the Mississippi 
river. This did not displease me. I 
felt sure that the work of myself and 
the Prince of Wales had completely 
covered up the loss of my ships, and 
when I was seen in company of these 
big railroad Kings in this book, no one 
would be unkind enough to say of me 
that I was trying to sponge or borrow 
anything from them. I returned to my 
room and had my breakfast sent to me 
there, as I did not care to meet the 
gaze of the crowd in the dining room, 
not as the man who wrote the song “Af- 
ter the Ball;” but as the man who was 
going to build this great railroad into 
South America. 

When this was over the time was 8 
a.m., one of those bright and balmy 
days in May. Remembering I had an 
order for my friend’s private horse I 
repaired to the stables of Bazinsky 
Bros., and presenting my order re- 
quested that he be saddled for me. 
Now this city boasted of some fine 
stock, but as I put my foot in the stir- 
up and sprung on his back, I believe he 
was the finest and handsomest piece 
of horseflesh I ever saw, and I have 
seen them from Arabia, the land of 
fine horses, celebrated in prose and 
poetry. My objective point was the 
National Cemetery and the Pair- 
grounds. 

I will digress a little to say something 
of the city, which is one of the classic 
cities of this great country, as during 
the great civil war it was one of the 
strategic points and its fall on the 
4th day of July, 1863, settled forever the 
continuance of the union of these 
States. 

It was here that Lieut. General U. 
S. Grant covered himself with that mil- 
itary glory which followed him to his 
grave. In 1880, seventeen years after 
he had bombarded the ctly, he was her 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 101 


honored guest. I saw him, was intro- 
duced and shook hands with him. 
This shows that the passions and pre- 
judices engendered by war cannot long 
endure. General Grant was a great 
man, no doubt, on that point. But to 
proceed. The city is also one that is 
picturesque. Its tall hills, when cloth- 
ed with nature’s green carpet, as it is 
this day, with its clinging vines and 
wild flowers makes a scenery as pretty 
as there is to be found in the world. 
To those who look upon it day by day, 
it becomes as any oft told tale, but the 
strangers, thousands of whom visit 
the city every year, are charmed with 
its natural beauty. When the histo- 
rian of the future will write of the 
great civil war, he will devote more 
pages to Vicksburg than has been giv- 
en to Waterloo. The fall of Vicksburg 
has had and will have greater effect 
upon free governments, than did the 
battle of Waterloo. 

But to return to my horse. He was 
a flne one, and as he singlefooted at a 
gait of 2:40 it was not long before I 
was at the old Spout Springs. This 
was the terminus of the boulevard and 
the electric street railroad. The scene- 
ry here is especially grand. When I 
reached the spot you can imagine my 
surprise when my eyes fell upon the 
beautiful fair grounds in full view from 
the springs. The water, which is a 
natural fall from a big hill, rushed 
through a flne fountain. This was in 
the center of a big pavilion, where pic- 
nics were given. There was a pretty 
road to the north of the pavilion lead- 
ing up the hill, so I rode my horse up 
where from my elevated place I look- 
ed over in the fairgrounds and saw the 
fast pacers and trotters go round the 
track. After enjoying this sight for 
some time, i headed my horse for the 
city. As I crossed the long bridge at 
the Lake House I saw a flne team of 
bays coming up the boulevard. The 
nearer they came the more certain I 
was that I knew the occupant of the 
buggy. At last we met and who should 
it be but President W. H. Coppage, of 
the Great Big Oriental Railroad. 
Though many years had passed since 
last we met, he clasped my hand as 
in the halcyon days of old. There was 
a boy passing and he insisted that I 


should dismount and let the boy take 
my horse, and take a seat with him. 
Now, in my life I have been in the com- 
pany of some big men, so I took my 
seat beside the president of this great 
railroad with as much ease as the con- 
ductor of the passenger train would lift 
the pass of the president of these Unit- 
ed States. I made some allusion to his 
team, when he told me their names 
were Grover Cleveland and Bill Mc- 
Kinley. I replied they were a hard 
team to pass. The president remarked 
he had been waiting for me all the 
morning, at The Carroll Hotel, and 
hearing I had gone to the fairgrounds, 
he had set out to And me. Continuing, 
he said he had received my letter, but 
could not believe his eyes when he read 
the same, as he saw in the New Or- 
lans Daily States that I was going to 
build myself a railroad from some 
point. New OiTeans or Vicksburg, into 
Central America. I then told him 
briefly what I have told you about the 
loss of my fl eet of ships. 

He expressed himself in words of 
sorrow, whicn 1 Knew were meant, lor 
my long experience with men, has been 
such that I can nearly always tell the 
true friend from the counterfeit. 

What are your qualiflcations, Capt. 
Glover? said the President. I wish a 
man for my Private Secretary, who 
will be the same as President when I 
am absent. 

Well, said I, to begin with, I speak 
seven languages besides English. I am 
a telegraph operator, typewriter, short- 
had reporter and I write a fast and 
legible hand. In fact I know all about 
a railroad, from air hose up to drawing 
a salary as General Manager. 

Well, Captain, I will take you, and 
your salary will begin with today, and 
will be $500 per month. This will bring 
you within the provisions of the income 
tax. 

Though I was reduced to a poor man 
again, I never liked the income tax, 
said I. I always did consider it the 
legislation of the demagogue against 
the rich. Some of them may be opres- 
slve, but at the same time they are 
smart, and they will lind some way to 
get out of paying the same. I always 
felt ashamed of the great Democfatip 


102 ^THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


party masquerading over the land in 
the cast off garments of the itepubli- 
can party. 

In about twenty minutes after we met 
we had arrived at The Carroll Hotel, 
and went to the President’s room. Now 
when Clint told me about the Oriental 
Railroad I did not believe a word of it. 
I supposed he was romancing, though 
the matter was referred to by the Man- 
ager, and by the gentlemen at the ban- 
quet. When Dave Herman spoke of 
it to me, I knew then there was some- 
thing in it. So when I stood in the 
presence of fhe >President and was 
about to be placed in charge of the 
biggest thing on wheels on earth. I 
doubted it no longer. What attract- 
ed my attention was so much silver 
about the rooms. Everything in the 
room was made of it. The President 
had rooms on the fourth floor looking 
towards the river. 

I am only here. Captain, temporarily, 
said he; by and by we will go to the 
big Union Depot, on North Washington 
street, which our man E. D. Loftin, the 
man who put the tunnel in the Behring 
Straits for us, is now building; it will 
cost us ^300,000. Captain, said he, I 
may as well instal you in office, at 
the same time unlocking a desk. These 
are our bank books. You will have to 
give checks nearly every day, and I 
will here say to you that the checks 
of the Grreat Oriental are good for any- 
where from $1 to a billion. This is the 
pass book, you will always remember 
the fraternity. Never refuse a worthy 
railroad man a pass. Under the laws 
of the Great Oriental there is no need 
to bribe Congressmen, or Aldermen, so 
you will use them sparingly. The Pres- 
ident turned to go. 

Hold! said I; where does this line run. 
Now every one knows how a railroad 
out of New Orleans to the land named 
ought to go, but just at that time I did 
not. There were two large maps of 
the world hanging on the walls show- 
ing this great line. Taking up his 
gold headed cane, he pointed out 'the 
line to me. Anyone who will get a 
map of the United States and Europe 
will see this great railroad as I then 


saw it. Beginning at New Orleans, it 
came to Vicksburg; at a point about 
sixteen miles north of that city, it 
branches off and crossed the Mississip- 
pi River, at a place called Milliken’s 
Bend, going in an air line to Hot 
Springs, in Arkansas, on to Oklahoma 
City, thence to Denver, Col., to Salt 
Lake City, thence to the Yellow Stone 
Park, then up the western side of the 
Rocky Mountains, to Spokane Palls. At 
Westminster Junction it crossed the 
Canada Pacific, following up the Pa- 
cific coast through the British posses- 
sions, through the city of Sitka in Alaska, 
on to the Behring Straits. There we 
have a tunnel, fifty miles long, and a 
double track, and I am in receipt of a 
telegram that Mike Foley, the 
well known engineer on the Q. & C., 
run through there in fifty minutes to- 
day. 

Good time, said I. 

Yes, fair, said the president, but the 
time must come lower than that. Re- 
suming, said the president, with his 
cane on the map and my eyes on the 
same, after going through the tunnel 
the road is an air line to St. Petersburg. 
The Czar is interested with us through 
Siberia and will not have anything but 
air lines. There are tangins; this 
means straight lines of one thousand 
miles each. From where we enter the 
Territory of Alaska the road becomes 
a new style. She is a single track; that 
is the cars run on one rail; the wheels 
have a flange on both sides and derail- 
ment is impossible. The top rail, for 
we call it that, is a two inch brass rod, 
which acts as a balance and furnishes 
the power to the engine, which is run 
by electricity. There are five arms on 
the top of the cars and these hold her 
steady. Our power houses are 500 miles 
apart. You may say for the informa- 
tion of the curious that the road is all 
elevated, like they are in New York city. 
This is done to avoid ice and snow. At 
some points she is one hundred feet 
above the ground, and at no point less 
than twenty. She is roofed in also. 
Resistance of the air has been found 
to greatly impede the progress of trains 
and to overcome this our engines are 
all sharp, like the prow of a ship, and 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND 

they cut the air at the rate of 150 to 200 
miles an hour. All passengers who put 
their heads out of the car windows, ar- 
rive at Paris bald headed. Continuing, 
said the president, the line then goes on 
to Paris, thence to Madrid and on to 
Gibralter. Prom Moscow it goes along 
the borders of the Caspian sea through 
Africanistan to Delhi. There we will 
buy the road formerly owned by you 
and the Prince of .Wales. Now, Cap- 
tain, I am going to tell you something 
that will surprise you: You have wor- 
ried a good deal no doubt about the loss 
of those ships, and the loss the country 
would sustain, by the failure to unite 
the continents of North and South 
American with a railroad. Then put- 
ting his cane at the city of Santiago, 
on the western coast of South America, 
here we are building a line to this coun- 
try; it will run into the union depot of 
the city of Shreveport, and will be 
known as the Shreveport, South Amer- 
ican and Cape Horn Railroad; and a 
part of the Great Oriental system. The 
work of building is going rapidly on 
and we are likely to be knocking at the 
gates of the city most any day, to use 
a newspaper phrase. I have made L. C. 
Allen, the well known conductor, the 
president of the same and he thought 
best not to say anything to the Develop- 
ment Club about the matter. I expect 
they will feel very much hurt about the 
same, but we cannot help it. 

Then, said I, what you have pointed 
out to me is the Great Oriental Rail- 
road, and the direct route from New 
Orleans to London, Paris and the Ori- 
ental regions. 

Sure, said the President, and you are 
now Captain Glover, of the Great Ori- 
ental, and it will stick to you. 


CHAPTER XI. 

One week after I had taken the posi- 
tion of private secretary to the presi- 
dent I was working on some letters for 
him, when he entered. I had made up 
my mind that I would ask him about 


TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 103 

the finding of that Spanish treasure, 
so I brought the matter up and he told 
me that the look on the faces of those 
free silver men when he began to take 
those boxes out beggared description; 
and, strange to say, it was no use to 
us, for as soon as it became known, 
silver was as cheap as soda. I took it 
all down to a big warehouse that I 
rented from Sheriff Birchett and stored 
it all there, but I found a way after 
awhile to use it. We had been told the 
best way to use it was to silver plate 
all of our engines and cars and we have 
been doing so. for years. When our 
great line is completed, which I hope 
will not be later than September 1st, 
we will have 26,750 engines on the Great 
Oriental Railroad which will reach, as 
before said, from Cape Horn, South 
America to Paris, Bombay, and the re- 
gions of Europe, Asia and China, via 
Vicksburg. 

I felt sorry for the free silver men 
but refrained from making any com- 
ment, but this only shows what the 
discovery of silver for the past twenty 
years has done. But we will come to 
more of this as we proceed. Just then 
Pat Foley, the well known foundry 
man, walked in. Pie told the president 
he would have all the material for the 
big bridge ready, at the same time 
passing a sample of the metal. 

This, Captain, said he, is one of the 
new inventions of this 20th century and 
I will tell you about it. Some years ago 
a well known gentleman of this city 
discovered the process for making it. 
It came about in this wise. When 
Coin put all the gold in the world in 
the Chicago wheat pit his heart sank 
within him, for he had many friends 
commonly called gold bugs, and he 
realized the desperation of their case 
and he was determined to help them 
out if he could, so he began to work 
on the old theory of the alchemist of 
making gold from the base metals. He 
mixed iron, steel, copper, tin and 
brass and while he did not bring the 
gold in the way he expected, he found 
a way to use up the many millions of 
tons of these metals which have for 
years been going to waste. He calls 
the consist the Devil’s Gumbo. To 
make a long story short we built the 


104 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


entire line through Russia and Alaska 
with this. It is cheaper than iron and 
stands heat and cold better than any 
material any railroad company has 
ever used. For some days in opening 
the presidents mail I noticed letters 
from different clubs, some were from 
the Phantoms and also from the Bel- 
mont, but the red hot ones came from 
the Development club. They were all 
demanding the same thing — that he be- 
gin work immediately to close the gap 
in the Great Oriental railroad between 
Vicksburg, Miss., and the Hot Springs, 
in Ark. So I asked him about the same 
and how it had happened that he had 
allowed ten years to go by, and had 
not built this less than 300 miles. 

Well, Captain, you know we all like 
our friends? 

Yes, said I, most of us do, I think, I 
have solved the problem that this thing 
of getting into the Cabinet and other 
good positions is entirely a question 
of friends. But go on. 

Well some years ago I bought the Y. 
& M. V., and the V., S. & P. Railroads 
and left General Manager Geo. D. Gur- 
ley in charge, and moved off up to 
Denver, Col., and I have been living up 
there for the past ten years, and 
thought I was as safe as a coon in his 
hole; but a few days ago I received a 
letter from the ex-Secretary of Trans- 
portation, the Hon. Newton, C. Blanch- 
ard, that like to pulled me out of my 
boots, and that is why I am here for 
the last few days to begin work. The 
people of New Orleans are also after 
me, but no one is to blame, but Gurley. 
He has great love for that Division, 
viz: Y. & M. V., of the Great Oriental 
Railway. 'Hie bad been pulling the 
wool over my eyes all these years. You 
know. Captain, Congress has been after 
the Managers of the Union Pacific Rail- 
road with a sharp stick for years. 

Yes, I know, said I, but I have not 
heard of anything they have done. I 
believe the gentlemen who began with 
the Pacific road are all there yet, such 
as the Lord has not removed. In the 
first quarter of the twentieth century 
it did not pay a man to try and set 
aside the express will of Congress, like 
Bowler did with the sugar planters, 


and from the tone of the letters, I be- 
gan to feel that a storm was gathering 
about the head of the President, such 
a one as he had never encountered in 
his life, and he would be swept from 
the office of President of the Great 
Oriental Railroad for no reason but 
that he had relied too much on what 
his friends had to say, I knew* my posi- 
tion as his Private .Secretary depended 
on my 'side tracking it, if I could. Self- 
interest, don’t you see. The loss of my 
ship had taught me a lesson, so I had 
prepared a long address to “Coxey’s 
Army.” I saw also that he was trou- 
bled more than he cared to let me 
know. But I was sure he would come 
out all right in the matter. So I 
changed the subject by asking him this; 
I suppose you have been to Alaska, as 
your Oriental Railway runs through 
that country. Please tell me a little 
about that country; the size, etc. Few 
know much about that country, except 
it was purchased from Russia during 
the war. Some think she is about as 
large as the State of Louisiana. 

Alaska, said he, I have not been en- 
tirely over, only through the center. 
Her area is estimated at 580,107 square 
miles, but no impressions can be gain- 
ed by these figures; without compari- 
son it is more than one sixth of the 
entire domain of the United States. 
It would make seventy States as large 
as Massachusetts. It is nine times as 
large as England, from north to south, 
in a straigth line, that is the way the 
Great Oriental Railroad runs. The 
distance is as great as from the north 
of Maine to the end of Florida. Now 
anyone curious for figures can make 
the calculation and give me the miles, 
said the President, and if he hits it 
within ten miles I will give him a free 
pass from New Orleans to St. Peters- 
burg, but he must pay his fare back. 

Indeed, said I, you do not suppose 
you will get any one that will be fool 
enough to bite at that, do you? 

Indeed they will. They have bit at 
plenty of things from the railroads just 
as foolish as far as they were concern- 
ed, and I expect to work up a good 
summer trade on it as soon as it goes 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 105 


in the New Orleans papers. You see it 
is half fare, and General Manager Geo. 
L. McCormick tells me those who do 
not want a pass want half fare. Then 
I will do good in another way. I will 
make some people look at a book, some- 
thing they have done for a long time. 
Of course I know how far it is to an 
inch from where we enter the ter- 
ritory until the locomotive dashes into 
the tunnel, sixty miles long. But I am 
not going to tell, said the President 
with a smile. 

President Coppage, said I, we all 
know where the Great Oriental Rail- 
way is and that she will be done and 
open for business by the 1st day of 
September, and in a few years people 
will all have forgotten the long time it 
took to go to Paris and London and 
how sea sick they used to be; but with 
our Great Oriental completed they will 
step into a palace car at the depot in 
New Orleans and in less than five days 
he will be in Paris and he will be car- 
ried at a speed that will make that time 
on the New York Central seem like the 
movement of a freight train. 

Why, Captain, we are making over 
100 miles an hour, every day from the 
Hot Springs up to the tunnel, so in 
speaking of the matter always say that 
we are doing not what we are going to 
do. 

But I want to talk with you on one 
other point that is always more or less 
before the people of the country. I 
hear you have solved the labor ques- 
tion on the Great Oriental Railway. 
Would you mind telling me what you 
know about the part in which you were 
an actor, and your views generally on 
the distribution of wealth or the pro- 
duct of labor, for publication? 

Well, that depends, said President 
Coppage. No I do not mind. Captain, 
but of course what I say may be mis- 
construed. It will be charged that I 
am a man at the head of a big soulless 
corportion, with an ax to grind, and 
men also. But I have never ground 
any as yet, and if the men on my rail- 
road are poor, it is not because I have 
not paid them the best wages in the 
world that is ipaid for such work, but it 
is because some of them are extrava- 
gant, some of them have large families 


to take care of, and to educate, and that 
consumes all they can make. 

That is not the point. President Cop- 
page, said I. 

First I want to know what wages do 
you pay 

Second, what do you consider pros- 
perity in its general sense? 

Third, do you believe that the equal- 
izing of the conditions of men is possi- 
ble in this world. 

Fourth — What do you consider the 
man who tells a mian that it is within 
power of the government to legislate him 
rich until they make him a direct do- 
nation from the Treasury. 

Fifth — What do you think of free sil- 
ver oir its ooinage at 16 to 1, and what 
effect it will it have generally. 

No. 1. — I can answer in a few words; 
the lowest grade of labor on a railroad 
is trackmen, those who keep up the 
track; those we pay $1.50 per day. Ein- 
gine men make $150.00 a month; con- 
ductors $5.00 peir day, except officers, 
which of course I am, not discussing. 

That’s good, said I, now the next. 

No. 5. — I will answer briefiy, though 
I am not in the habit of discussing 
things outside of my business, but our 
trouble with that eight hundred mil- 
lions which we had to use by silver 
plating our engines and ears ought to 
be a lesson to all others. But, to speak 
seriously, if the goveirnment were to 
coin silver 10 to* 1, or 2 to 1, men will 
find there will be no change — ^they will 
have to work for what they get or sell 
some of the products of the labor. 
Their wages will in a large measure 
depend on two things — the supply of 
labor and the generosity of the Mana- 
gers of the corporations for which they 
work. But, as a rule, men are not 
troubled with enlargement of the heart 
or purse strings. When they enter 
the market to purchase labor, whether 
the coinage be 16 to 1, or the money be 
paper alone, in the days of fiush times 
or before the “crime of 1873,” as “Coin” 
called it, when silver was killed, which 
is no such thing, because silveir is still 
in use, men as individuals or corpora- 
tions bought labor as cheap as they 
could. I do not see how meix will raise 


106 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANSCONTINENTAL R. R. 


the price of their labor, unleiss more 
of them will gO' to work for themselves, 
which may reduce the supply, but that 
is too visionary to discuss, in view of 
the fact that capital is the tool of labor, 
and men must have capital tQ go into 
any kind of business, except to talk, 
and he must have it then also, for he 
must have education before he can talk 
anything but a lot of nonsense. 

The President then put his pencil on 
-No. 4, and looking me straig^ht in the 
eye he said: I call him a demagoge. 

No. 3. — I will answer direct. First, 
No. Then. I will enlarge by illustra- 
tions in a way' that ithe wayfaring man, 
though a fool, could not eirr therein. 
The President then book one firm. I 
thought he was going to take the Glreat 
Oriental Railroad, but he was too mod- 
est to dio that, no man can discuss his 
own case without iprejudice to the same, 
and then the Oriental was paying too 
big a per cent., to give a fair idea of 
what he was getting at. So he took 
the well known firm of 'Hernsheimer 
Bros., of New Orleans. This plant is 
owned by four brothers and the capital 
represented is one million; the employes 
are about 1,500. In the year 1894 they 
did a fair business and is said to have 
cleared about 5 per cent. They pay all 
the way from $1.50 per day to $3,000 
per year. The amount of wages in the 
aggregate was greater by a number of 
times than the amount that went to 
the four brothersi, ‘ but the fact was it 
was not subjected to the long division 
that the other was. So at the end of 
the year, each one of the brothers found 
himself in the possession of over $10,- 
000, as you will see by figuring a little, 
and three times as large an amount as 
their best paid man, who no doubt, if 
a reasonable man, was well pleased 
with his salary. 

Yes, said I, and that was quite as 
much as some of the States paid their 
Governors, but in spite of the fact that 
a good paying business yields a reve- 
nue greater than most political offices, 
men are anxious to make martyrs of 
themselves. I do not wish, however, to 
inject any politics into your answers 
to my questions; only it has got to be 
common now, as it was twenty years 


ago, to attribute all of our woes and 
everything else to government. 

That is all right, Captain, what you 
say, but to come back to the question. 
You now see that there is absolutely no 
way under the sun to equalize the 
earnings or wages of those 1,500 ope- 
ratives with the owners of the plant. 
Now, we will take this view of the mat- 
ter: We will take this $50,000 and di- 
vide it with the operatives. Now how 
much more have they? It is not worth 
while to give you the figures. I will 
call your attention to the case, and you 
may supply the figures if you wish. 
But what is the condition of the broth- 
ers? They own the mill, yet they have 
not received so much as the poorest 
paid employee. Now I wish to ask any 
workingman in this country, with two 
ideas above currying a horse, does he 
not think that every man who puts his 
money into a business, or into an in- 
corporated company, has the right to 
expect profits on his money, and cannot 
he see that the reason why the ine- 
qualities are glar'ing, is because the re- 
turns go to a few because of the own- 
ership of the plant — and every man 
recognizes the right to the ownership 
of property? Now, said he, there is 
still one hope, that is this: Men will 
see and act upon the principal of pay- 
ing a man a fair day’s wages for a fair 
day’s work, as we are now doing on the 
Great Oriental Railway, and with it 
will come that general prosperity of 
which I will now answer in your ques- 
tion No. 2. 

With this the President opened a 
drawer and took out a clipping from the 
New Orleans Picayune, one of the best 
edited journals in the South. I ven- 
ture to say it was read by few' people. 
It is no wonder we are so poorly in- 
formed, when so many good things pass 
us by, day after day. I will let the Pic- 
ayune answer you, Captain, said he, 
and he began to read the article. When 
he had read a few lines of the article 
entitled “The Mutual Dependence of 
one Business Upon Another.’’ 

I see, said I, you have the answer to 
my question in the article you hold in 
your hand; but as it is not original you 
need not read the same. I am not in 
the habit of asking questions and ans- 
wering them myself; but most men are 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 107 


not much disposed to read things that 
will drive away the phantoms and 
sweep away the cobwebs from their 
brains; they seem to prefer them to re- 
main, and if you were to com© to them 
with the sun in one hand and the moon 
in the other, they would (find real or 
imaginary pleasure in disputing your 
logic; the gist of the argument you 
hold in your hand is this — that the suc- 
cess and prosperity of all kinds of bus- 
iness depends on plenty of workers at 
good wages, and not on the “free coin- 
age of silver” or the printing of unlim- 
ited greenbacks or treasury notes. 
Those are the people who make pros- 
perity in its broadest and most practi- 
cal sense. Nothing is gained by strikes 
and lockouts, and the constant low- 
ering of the wages of the workers. The 
Capacity to buy of the goods they make 
and those others make, is measured by 
their power to earn. The only hope I 
see for the working people must de- 
pend on a future public sentiment, to 
become educated, to give a man a fair 
day’s wages. The main roads to this, 
if I understand it, is the press, the pul- 
pit and the bar. Those honorable pro- 
fessions, have lead the front legions in 
all great moral or social revolutions 
and their earnest support, in my judg- 
ment, is indispensible to the final suc- 
cess of this question we now have and 
always have under discussion. This is 
a steep, rugged and long road, to the 
Temple of Wealth, in the far distance, 
and many of them plodding on their 
weary way will fall foot sore by the 
wayside, because of the slefishness in 
the human heart and the inability for 
ment to see any side but their own. 
People will, I suppose, for a long time, 
continue to try and get every thing as 
cheap as they can, irrespective of the 
fact that the heart’s blood of their fel- 
low man may be woven in every 
thread they wear. I do not expect to 
change it by what I say here. I only 
call your attention to the fact and to 
human nature, as I and every one about 
me can see it. Of course. Col. Coppage, 
you need not expect any labor trouble 
on your (Great Oriental Railroad, if you 
are paying the wages you tell me you 
are. Men must be reasonable; they 
must live and let live, and they can 
never hope to succeed with their strikes 


and destroy the property of others and 
kill men who are trying to carry out 
the law imposed on man when turned* 
out of the Garden of Eden — “in the 
sweat of his face shall he eat bread.” 
This is as yet a land of law and order, 
and these revolutions cannot succeed 
with violence, unless they grow of suf- 
ficent magnitude to overthrow the 
whole government. As a rule, men care 
very little for the troubles oif other men 
and when the land is full of men, who 
are anxious to work, even if it be to 
carry a gun, and there is plenty of 
money to be had, to pay ' them, the 
chances of workingmen in war with 
capital appears to me to be very slim. 
In fact I am not seriously in fear of 
any thing of the kind, I have been 
treated a great many times to the opin- 
ions of men, as to what the next war 
will be. iSome think it will be races, 
and some religion; but the latest war 
crank is capital and labor. In my opin- 
ion they will never be much more seri- 
ous in the future than in the past. As 
for myself I would much prefer to ap- 
peal to the reason and judgment of my 
employer when he has the government 
behind him, or the whole people, who 
are the government, with big brass can- 
nons and powder, and shell, when I 
have only stove pipe cannons, and pa- 
per pillets, to speak comparatively. 
My views may not meet with the ap- 
proval of a great many, said I; but I 
have not lived, and read and thought 
these fifty years for nothing, I hope. 
Some may delight to fill the heads of 
men with visions and dreams that can 
never be realized, but my philosophy is 
to call a spade a spade and take the 
consequences. I do not expect to go to 
Congress and would not have the Uni- 
ted States Senatorship tendered me on 
a silver waiter. 

Now, Captain, said the President, 
you asked me something about silver. 
I want to ask you about India— that is 
a silver country is it not? 

It used to be, but at present it is the 
same as England and the United 
States. Of course silver is used there, 
as it is in all gold countries, but there 
is no free coinage there or any where 
else, except in Mexico, and some of the 
South American countries; but you 
have to work for it if you get it, un- 


108 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


less your rich relations die and will it 
to you. Even then you have to work to 
try to keep it, for wealth is like a sum- 
nier’s dream, soon passes away unless 
well manag-ed. 

That is true. Captain, said the Presi- 
dent; but I hear India cited a good deal 
by writers and speakers, how does it 
compare with this country? 

These people, said I, who make all the 
beautiful comparisons of those coun- 
tries do that to show they have read a 
little. They do not know anything 
about the conditions in those countries, 
as they know very little of the condi- 
tions in their own country. As I have 
lived there for twenty years, I know 
what I am talking about. But to 
answer your question direct, they com- 
pare aDout like the tramp on the rail- 
road compares with the President rid- 
ing in his private car. There are 287 
millions of people in India, the per 
capita circulation is about' $3.53 of our 
money. Of course you will see that 
there must be many poor people and 
wages are a few cents a day. 


CHAPTER XII. 

A week or so after the things told in 
last chapter, I was working on some 
letters for the President. He had sent 
me to New Orleans to see Col. H. Dud- 
ley Coleman, who was making his pri- 
vate car, to see if there was any way 
he could use up about three tons more 
of the silver. I saw the gentleman, who 
said he was prepared to do anything he 
could to help the President get rid of 
his silver and he would make all the 
wheels of his car out of that metal. 
The president came in again and said 
he had been thinking over what I had 
said and he would like to have me con- 
tinue what I had to say, when I be- 
gan with this statement: Men do not 
put their capital into cotton mills or 
railroads for the love of their fellow 
man. That is not thr; consideration, 
but for the profits that there is in the 
business, which I am told by the man- 
ager has been about 10 per cent. Men 


must have confidence in the business 
paying or they will have nothing to do 
with it. To come back to the original 
question. Men who have nothing but 
their labor to sell must try by peaceable 
means to get the best price they can 
for it, and when they have money they 
can buy what they want, or what they 
think they want. 

Captain, said the President, I have 
been thinking of that railroad scheme 
of yours and I have decided to put it in 
the papers that we, the Great Oriental 
Co., have acquired the charter and will 
build the line out of New Orleans. Col. 
Bill Ferguson told me the last time he 
was in Shreveport, La., that the Great 
Cape Horn Railway was just out side 
of the Silver Lake Bottom — a locality 
well known in that city. While there 
is no need of any other line I want to 
give the people a chance to buy some 
bonds; you know every body wants 
bonds. We were told that if Secretary 
Carlisle had offered those bonds to the 
Hayseeds, instead of making that pri- 
vate deal, they would all have been 
taken up and a much better price 
would have been paid for them. 

Col. Coppage, said I, that is very kind 
of you, but when you tell me about that 
Great Capa Horn Route I believe you 
are the victim of a joke, or you have a 
railroad in your head. 

You may laugh. Captain, but you 
will see it yet; I am not dreaming, but 
the dreams of today, become the reali- 
ties of tomorrow. This route was sur- 
veyed many years ago, and has only 
been waiting for the capital to do the 
work. 

Captain, said he, I would like to hear 
you further on the labor question. You 
have expressed yourself some and I 
shall be pleased to hear you more on 
the same subject, and I will ask you 
if you are opposed to, or do you ap- 
prove of labor organizations, and do 
you think they do any good, and your 
views generally. I would like to hear 
you on the income tax. Before you 
answeir, you must understand your po- 
sition on the question, may be very se- 
verely criticised, and you may be 
charged as a man that is now cringing 
and fawning that thrift may follow; 
that you are pandering to the rich, eo 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 109 


you had better weigh well what you 
say, I know, of course, that since the 
loss of your fleet of ships you have 
abandoned the idea of becoiming a rail- 
road builder, or a capitalist, and you 
are now in the position of thousands 
of men — you want to sell you labor, to 
the best advantage'. So you may speak 
briefly, or at length. What you say 
will in no way affect your situation, I 
would not be guilty of asking a man to 
express himself freely, and discharge 
him because his opinion, unknown to 
me, did nof accord with mine. 

When the President had finished I be- 
gan by saying, that I cared nothing 
for the charge of fawning, that it was 
well known of me that I never molded 
my opinions to fit the man. I had held 
opinions on many things that were not 
in tune with many about me, but I had 
kept their faith, and had seen many 
men adopt my views; that I did not 
cringe to the Prince of Wales, but told 
him plainly my opinion on many things. 
When a man puts his name to an opin- 
ion is contrary, to the sophist, theorist 
and dreamers that were fiilling the land 
with their hue and cry and the news- 
papers with well written essays that 
were calculated to deceive. 

But to come to the point. I was not 
opposed to: organized labor. There was 
the shylock in the employer of labor, 
as well as in the lender of money. I 
did not for a moment doubt that in 
many cases, men by being organized 
had, where their labor was one that 
required skill and experience to per- 
form, been able to dictate the scale 
of wages; that power often arose from 
the fact that the supply was not as 
great as the demand. In the case of 
the Drotherhood of Locomotive Engi- 
neers, one of the most intelligent labor 
orders in the world they had been able 
to maintain their standard of wages, 
but even they had been defeate(d in 
battle. I refer to the great “Q’" strike 
in 1887. Organized labor has also been 
able to call attention of the public to 
the sweating system in many large 
cities, and has had the effect of check- 
ing it. Also to the detrimental em- 
ployment of child labor. These have 
all been good so far as they have never 


been able to make employers pay over 
the market price for unskilled labor. 
This embraces the larger class, such as 
farm hands, and the Handy Andy man 
of the city; also the numerous class of 
railroad employes, excepting engine- 
men and machinist. To the former I 
can see no good to their cause when 
banded together for violent purposes. 
Their positions are as easily filled as 
that of the average Congressman, and 
they can never hope to raise their 
wages above the Ctovernor, to the ma- 
chine supply and demand. I think, 
however, much good to themselves 
could be accomplished by organizing 
on a fraternal plan, copying the best 
ideas of some of the mutual insurance 
societies of our times, so as to provide 
for them, in case of sickness, or in case 
of discharge from positions, enabling 
them to go to new communities, where 
they could again begin the battle of 
life This might be known as the inde- 
pendent order of labor, being non- 
political in Its character and having 
only in view the improvemient of the 
moral and social welfare of the work- 
ingmen. These are my views. Colonel, 
in brief, said I. They may be called 
visionary, or too Utopian, but they 
could not be more so than the doctrine 
that has for years been preached by 
the wailking delegates, and the bum- 
combe orator, who has been filling the 
heads of the working man with the idea 
that the day was near at hand, when, 
without a dime in his purse, or a loaf 
of bread in his house, he would have 
the capitalist and the great corpora- 
tions on their knees to him and beg- 
ging for mercy, which, of course, he 
will not grant. When I see men cut 
cheese from moons in their back yards, 
I may then be ready to believe them, 
but until that day comes I will hold 
to these opinions, formed after many 
years of study of the question. What 
I have said has no application to the 
Gireat Oriental Railroad, which has 
solved the labor problem, adopting a 
scale of wages 50 per cent, over all the 
railroads in the United States. I could 
go on and say much more, Coloinel, 
said I, on this all absorbing labor prob- 
lem, but those who ought to agree with 


no THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R, 


me, will in all proibability never see 
this ; and I will at some time discuss the 
matter again. 

Captain, said he, I would like to take 
a little tilt with you on the silver mat- 
ter, but we had best go on with the 
building or closing of the gap in the 
Great Oriental Railway and will have 
more of the silver bye-and-bye. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


The next day about 10 a.m., when the 
President came in, he had a long list of 
articles in his hand, which he said he 
would like to hear me on. 

I asked him if he was writing a book? 

He replied, “no,” but he would like to 
get my opinion on these things and 
would begin by asking me to give him 
my views on the “income tax.” I was 
just going to begin my remarks on this 
law, when the telephone of solid silver 
rang in the room. I had been there for 
one month, and this was the first time 
this one had been used. He always 
talked through the one with a gold bell. 

Excuse me for a few minutes said 
the President. I will see who this is. 
The following conversation took place: 

Hello! This is the Behring Straight 
depot, American side; was the answer; 
who is this? 

This is the general manager W. R. 
Haynes. 

Well, Bob, what is it? 

I want to tell you Mike Foley has just 
come through the tunnel, with engine 
26740, train No. 1704, bound south to the 
Hot Springs, in 35 minutes. 

That’s good; tell him I am well pleas- 
ed at this; beats all previous time in 
the past ten years. Tell him I will send 
him up that bear hide overcoat in a 
few days. The secretary of transpor- 
tation is going over to St. Petersburg to 
see the czar. How’s the weather. Bob? 

Pretty cold, Pete — 30 below zero, too 
— ^Silverites will be in Vicksburg in a 
day or two. Pete, did you hire that 
man, Captain Glover? 

Yes, I did; took him for my private 


secretary. He is an old general mana- 
ger on the India Central. They say he 
is a good man. 

Pete, when are you going to close the 
line between Vicksburg and Hot 
Springs? I was in London a few days 
ago, and they say over there they are 
going to make it pretty hot for us soon. 

Bob, how is Col. Bob Cox getting 
along with that well he is working 
on up there on the Rocky Mountains? 
I think he i sdoing all right. I hear he 
is down about 6,000 feet. Col. Bill Fer- 
guson went down there yesterday. A 
committee of those female conductors 
left last night from Spokane Falls for 
Vicksburg; . could not find out what 
they wanted. That’s all. Good bye. 

Captain, said the President, as he re- 
sumed his seat, and passed me one of 
his fragrant Railroad King cigars, you 
see those two telephones— one solid 
silver and the other with a small gold 
bell. 

Yes, said I. 

Well, we make them both work by 
this little small wire, said he, showing 
me the little wire not so large as a cob 
web on the wall. This is also an under- 
ground system, and was put up for me 
by Manager W. H. McCullough, of the 
“Great Southern Telephone Company.” 
He told me this morning, if I would get 
him a couple of car loads of blue stone, 
and two tons of zink he would make 
me a battery that I could talk every 
morning with my train dispatcher in 
Paris. I am already connected with 
New York city. I will ring them up. 
Exchange please give me New York 
city. 

Hello! This New York city? Please 
give me the New York Central presi- 
dent’s office. Who is this? Chauncey 
M. Depew? 

Yes; who is this? 

I am Col. Coppage, the President of 
the Great Oriental Railway. 

All right; what is it Colonel? 

I heard you got back from Europe 
the other day. Why did you not come 
back over the Oriental; you went that 
way? 

Yes I did, but you know I have to pa- 
tronize the ships a little. 

Say, Doctor, I am going to complete 
my line to New Orleans by September, 
what are you going to do for us? 


Ill 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND 

I will g-ive you all the business I can. 

Doctor, can’t you come down and 
make us a speech on that occasion? 

Yes, I could, but as your railroad will 
' be inter-Continental and trans-Conti- 
nental, you had best get the president 
’ of the United States, Major McKinley. 

He can make you as good one as I 
I could. 

All right. Good bye doctor. 

Captain, said the president; make a 
note of that.' Depew says that Presi- 
dent McKinley could make as good a 
speech as he could. Now I will hear 
what you have to say about “income 
taxes.” 

Well said I, it is a waste otf time to 
discuss dead issues, but as many work- 
ing men think the repeal of this law 
was wrong, I will briefly add that cap- 
ital is the tool of labor, and when the 
tools are blunted or locked up by leg- 
islating, labor will suffer in proportion. 

[ The most liberal policy to capital is 
best for the working man, for then it 
will be in vested to make profits and 
he 'wills ‘therolby earn wages. Confi- 
dence must, however, be mingled in 
every consist to bring it out. As I 
have said before sentiment is no part 
in the investment of a man’s money. 
Go to well managed banks to get mon- 
ey and immediately they will wish to 
know what the security is to be. Go to 
men with means, to take shares, be he 
of the 400 or the lower million sons of 
toil and he will ask what are the divi- 
dens to be. Tell him 10 per cent, and a 
thousand chances to one he will sub- 
scribe. Tell him the good of the city 
and the same chances he will say of the 
city what Vanderbilt said of the pub- 
lic “the public be d — n.” Col. Coppage, 
said I, I might go on here for hours and 
tell you what I think about how things 
could be done. I could show that all 
men, the poor as well as the rich, get 
out of paying all the taxes they can, 
and that all men regard the tax col- 
lector as the common enemy of man- 
kind. There can be no doubt but what 
a dislike to him is taught in the “Holy 
Writ,” but this would do no good, and 
as I propose to treat it in some future 
work, I will go on with the building of 
the Great Oriental Railway. I only 
hope I will show here that Captain 
Glover is nobody’s fool, or tool either. 


TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 

But to come back to yourself; I hear 
you are going to be waited on to-day 
and there may be some trouble for you. 
I had not more than got these words 
out when there came a knock on the 
door? 

Come in, said I, and in walked the at- 
torney of the State of Mississippi, Col. 
O. S. Robins. The President must have 
thought there was something in the Uni- 
ted States Revised Statutes of the year 
1905 to help him out for he picked up 
the book and went into the next room. 
General Robbins was very pleasant to 
all, there being present some six or 
more persons. He understood we were 
only a lot of poor employes and we 
had no more to do with why the Great 
Oriental Railroad did not build this 
gap than the engines in the ship had 
to do with the course of the ships 
Some seemed to think if the govern- 
ment owned the railroads, greater lat- 
itude would be given men to give ad- 
vice to the management, and are al- 
ways citing that the government runs 
the army and the postofRce. I beg here 
to inform all such theorists that the 
soldier dare not criticise the general and 
the employes of the* postoffice depart- 
ment had best let the postmaster-gen- 
eral alone. Before anything of that 
kind takes place, we will have to have 
a new race of men, and it is best that it 
should be so. Without leaders noth- 
ing could be done. Of all the servile 
employees in this world, those of this 
government are the worst. So far as 
the writer is personally concerned he 
hopes he will be spared the happinss 
of working on a great railroad, “for the 
people,” as they are pleased to call 
themsleves. 

Now President Coppage was a man 
of sufficient courage for any ordinary 
purposes and he did not get down and 
beg for mercy as you may think. He 
faced this lawyer and said: General, I 
would like to compromise this matter 
with you for a few days. 

President Coppage, said he, there can 
be no compromise. Ten years ago you 
were given 400 millions in bonds to 
build the Great Oriental. I know you 
have been spending a good deal of 
money in the Orient and the demands 
of the age is that you complete this 
railway line from New Orleans to Eu- 


112 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R, 


rope. It has been left to take care of 
itself. Now Sir! I do not work for 
you. You have no sword of Damocles 
hanging over my head, and I am going 
to talk plain to you. This is now Tues- 
day. I will give you this day week to 
get M. O. Oorman, the greatest rail- 
road contractor in the world and Cox- 
ey’s army, and begin work, or you will 
be the president no more. With this 
General Robbins hit the book with his 
cane and it sounded like a clap of thun- 
der. The silence which followed this 
remark was painful. Then he opened 
the book. Now, said he, this statute 
says the Great Oriental shall begin at 
New Orleans, buy or build to Vicks- 
burg and at a place mentioned as the 
National Cemetery, it shall branch off; 
going as near an air line as possible to 
the Behring strait; there the company 
shall bridge, tunnel or ferry, if they 
can heat the waters with electricity in 
winter to keep the ice out. Now all 
this is provided in the book. You de- 
cided on a tunnel. Now what reply 
shall I make to this Development Club 
who have employed me to make this 
call upon you? 

While this passage-at-arms was going 
on, the others looked from one to the 
other and their colors changed every 
minute. None of us would have given 
fifteen cents for our jobs. 

By and by the President began. Gen- 
eral,* said he, I have no cause for com- 
plaint to make on you for the honor of 
this call. You perhaps do not know 
that of the last $100,000,000 bonds the 
government gave me, not one dollar of 
them have been sold. The secretary of 
transportation has had them for the 
past five years. He was told by the 
newspapers of the country that all the 
Hayseeds wanted was an opportunity 
to buy bonds, and they would give the 
government the chance to make what 
the syndicate made on the deal. — “Pa- 
triotic souls.” Now I have come to the 
conclusion, said the President of this 
great railroad, that you could not pull 
one of these Hayseeds up to the bank 
to buy bonds with the largest locomo- 
tive I have, even if they had the money. 
I have had my secretary here. Captain 
Glover, write to some New York Bank- 
ers and I hope to get them off in the 
next few days. I have my man Lof- 


tin, the man who put the tunnel in the 
Behring strait for me, build me a $300,- 

000 depot on the North end of the bou- 
levard and I shall move in there in a 
few days. This does not look like I 
propose to try to defeat this law. But 

1 cannot go much further until these 
bonds are sold. 

'Now, Pete; that’s what I told you, 
said Col. Bill Ferguson, for he had 
just walked in, as the President finish- 
ed rowling up this stoirm with the At- 
torney General. I know this thing was 
coming; so I told Loft in to go up to 
Charley Mackey’s, the well known 
lumber dealer, and get all the piling 
and I will send my Brother Taylor up 
there with the pile driver, and we will 
go to work this evening. I also sent a 
message to Major M. S. Hasie, at Port 
Worth, and told him to get us up a 
bridge like the one at Brooklyn, to go 
over the Mississippi River at Milliken’s 
Bend, and we will be in Hot Springs 
by the 1st day of September this year, 
1915. This happened as the Colonel said, 
as you will see. 

Gentlemen, said Gen. Robbins, if this 
is your answer, I will retire, and with 
this he walked out. 

The President turned to Col. Bill and 
did not in the least refer to what had 
just taken place. Col Bill, said he, 
have you done anything else in refer -7 
ence to closing the gaps. And did you 
hear anything new while over at St. 
Petersburg? What do the people over 
there think of my intention of extend- 
ing the Great Oriental from Gibraltar 
down to the Cape of Good Hope. How 
is Col. Bob. Cox getting on digging that 
well for me up there on the top of the 
Rock Mountains? 

Yes; there is news, said Col. Bill. A 
man found the North Pole while I was 
over in Europe. Yes; I have had more 
than 100 miles off the track graded and 
spoke to Capt. William Dlttmer, of 
Memphis, to get us out ten millions 
of cross ties. Well! I should say that 
Bob Cox has got that well done. When 
I pass there ccwming down the water 
was gushing out in a stream 36 inches 
and was at least 10,000 feet high and 
freezing at the top. The people all up 
in Wyoming are very uneasy for fear 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 113 


they will have a flood ag^ain if he does 
not get a cap on soon. (Col. Bill told 
me some remarkable things about this 
great well. He said the great height 
that the water was thrown made a 
natural ice factory; and the company 
would be able to sell ice at SOc a ton. 
“Their’s millions in it,” h'e said. At the 
top, or mouth, of the well, the water 
was so hot that it would run steam 
engines, and he was going to see the 
President and have the dynamos put in 
and it would furnish electrical power 
sufficient to operate the trains from the 
Yellow Stone Park to St. Petersburg, 
Russia, before we would need another 
power house. He said the waters were 
better than the “Gold Cure” for men 
abdicted to “John Barley Corn,” and a 
fortune could be made off of the Pro- 
hibitionists. There is no doubt, if you 
will stick to water, from this well, or 
any other, you will never die a drunk- 
ard. He said. Colonel Cox had achieved 
fame immortal as a well digger. I look- 
ed at the Colonel in astonishment; and 
had I not afterwards seen this well, 
and knew he was the President of the 
North Liouisiana Veracity Club, i should 
have doubted my own ears. But this 
Great Oriental system is one of the 
most wonderful of the age, and you 
have no right to doubt what you read 
and while you read. 

Col. Cox, the celebated well digger 
for the Great Oriental Bailwiay, is a 
well know character on the V., S. & P. 
R. R., in North Louisiana. He is an 
old locomotive engineer and has a 
friendly nature that makes him many 
friends in the profession. The Colonel 
is a modest man, and though he has 
knocked out Edison, he never speaks 
of the m'atter. He has met in the past 
the misfortunes that lay acroiss the 
path of all railroad men, and in a bad 
wreck, some years ago, his engine cap- 
sized and he lost a leg. He was then 
appointed for life, on good behavior, 
the Superintendent of the water supply, 
a very important offloe on all railway's. 
Col. Bill Ferguson always had great 
faith in him as a well digger, and said. 
Col. Bob could And water anywhere 
that old Moses could, and would not be 

8 


half as long about it, and souie years 
before I became the Private Secretary 
of the President of the Great Oriental, 
he employed him at the modest sum of 
$20,000,000 to dig the now famous well 
on the top of the Rocky Mountains. 
He said the Colonel had a scheme before 
Congress to dig wells all over the free 
silver States, and explode (dynamite in 
them and turn them into the sea. 
Col. Bill is veiry bitter on the free silver 
men, and in my judgment, only because 
he got all the gold in the recovered 
Treasury. But gold is the thing, in 
this age; see what big men he got with 
in the next chapter just because he 
had gold, and see what it will buy, and 
how quick it can be done, when I 
could draw my check for any amounh 
Col Coppage the President was no man 
to backbite his fellow man, and this is 
a serious fault with any man. Burt 
he told me one day, that Col. Bill was 
getting tired of the office of flnancial 
agent of the icompany and that the Col- 
onel was too extravagant, he would not 
only break the company but the govern- 
ment, and while he stood well with 
the Secretary of Transportation, he 
would surely call his hand if Ool. Bill 
made any more deals like that well, and 
while he did not wish to put any man 
^iit of office he was going to see all 
the general managers and have me 
made the president of the board of di- 
rectors and the financial agent of the 
Great Oriental Railroad, this is a po- 
sition equally as great as the secretary 
of the treasury, for you will under- 
stand the Great Oriental Railway is 50 
thousand miles, with its branches, and 
as Clint said is the biggest thing on 
wheels on earth. Captain, said he, Col. 
Bill wants all the railroad men 
in this country to come into the Great 
Oriental at 50c a share issued in this 
book, what do you think of it? And 
while he is a gold bug he will take sil- 
ver. Why the idea is a capital one. 
Colonel, said I; why not railroad men 
have their own railroad in their minds 
or on paper. Col. Bill is not only a 
gold bug but he is a man of sense, he is 
a philosopher, and he shall go to New 
Orleans with me. It is only necessary 
to say that my promotion took place in 


114 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


a few days and Col. Bill was one of 
my strongest friends and supporters. 
What I went to New Orleans for and 
who I met and what was said and done 
will be told in the next chapter. 


CHAPTER XIV. 


Brevity here demantis we pass over 
the events of many months and bring 
the reader to the time and place where 
he must know that the Gkreat Oriental 
Railroad is completed. For after the 
stormy interview between President 
Coppage, and the Attorney General, 
Col'. O. S. Robbins, things got a move 
on themselves, and the great bridge, a 
little north of the city, grew rapidly un- 
der the hands of the tbousands em- 
ployed in its construction. Its hundred 
of lightning express trains, from Val- 
paraso. Chili, began running over the 
Shreveport, South America & Cape 
Horn Railroad; thence over the Vicks- 
burg, Shreveport & Pacific, which prop’- 
erty was acquired by the Company in 
a manner I shall here describe. At 
Vicksburg its through cars were at- 
tached to the main line running out of 
New Orleans. And here the writer 
must depart from his original plan to 
describe some of the characters in two 
or three cases. This seems to him to 
be in keeping with the Captain’s plans 
mapped out as it is from his MSS. I 
now write. He says the trains are dai- 
ly crowded with the human freight, and 
carrying the products of all the heathen 
and civilized worlds, and over the fin- 
est road bed ever built the express 
trains rush, with the speed of light- 
ning, drawn by the handsome steam and 
electric engines, atl silver plated! and 
gliding over 150 pounds steel rails. 
Some additional details concerning the 
completion will follow, when the pur- 
pose of this work will close it. I write 
from Capt. Glover’s notes: I always had 
great admiration for President Cop- 


page, who took me from the Island of 
Poverty, where I had been cast, when 
my fieet was lost, and put me in a posi- 
tion in my native land, where I might 
be of use to- my fellowman. He is a 
stout man, weight 210 pounds, has dark 
hair and wears glasses. This is also 
due Col. Bill, as it was through his 
infiuence I became the President of the 
Board of Directors of the Great Ori- 
ental Railway and its financial agent. 
Col. Bill is a tall man, approaching 50 
years. He wears a black soft hat, win- 
ter and summer, pulled down over his 
eyes. He stoops a little as he walks 
and always goes with his hands in his 
pockets. The Colonel is one of the 
strong men in the Great Oriental sys- 
tem. His good judgment is shown in 
this incident, wben the Spanish Treas- 
ure was recovered at Viofesburg the 
Colonel was interested in the property. 
He was the only “goid bug” in the 
crowd and being allowed to make his 
choice, he took the small boxes. These 
boxes, which were all filled with gold; 
this gave him .great Influence in Washing- 
ton City, for the reason that the only 
man who could get a hearing in that 
city for the past twenty years, had 
to be a gold bug. When the President 
of the Great Oriental Railroad was in 
Washington trying to get the charter 
through, it leaked out that his syndi- 
cate had one billion, eight hundred mil- 
lions of silver, and he told me he stood 
on Pennsylvania Avenue trying to las- 
soe Congressmen, who fled from, him 
like he had yellow fever. He then tele- 
graphed tO' Col. Bill, who went on and 
met Gen. T. C. Catchings, who was 
then in the Senate, Tom B. Reed, of 
Maine, was then President of the Uni- 
ted States, and being a gold man, the 
matter was arranged that ,the Colonel 
should dine with him at the White 
House, when he promised to carry out 
the plan as was suggested by Col. R. H. 
Garrett, of New Orleans, that was to 
nail all the silver on their engine, so 
as to make it go. This was why he and 
the President were such good friends. 
All this the President told me, and I 
am willing to vouch for its being true. 
A few days before the Great Oriental 
was opened for the business of the 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 115 


world. The President toM me he would 
like me to go to New Orleans and close 
the deal with M. Pish, the President of 
the Illinois C'entral Railroad, and with 
Mr. C. C. Harvey, of the Great Queen 
& Orescent. He would have to go on 
to New York, on some business, but 
would return in a few days. This pri- 
vate car, the one with the 16 silver truck 
wheels under it and two tons on the in- 
side for ornamentation, was placed at 
my service. Attached to it was en- 
gine No. '26,750, the finest and fastest 
engine the Company had. The feat 
she performed and the time she made, 
and what the occasion was, will be told 
in another part, so it is only necessary 
here to say she was silver plated, as 
were all the Oriental owned. At 8 a.m. 
I stepped into the car, in our Union 
Depot, which was then completed and 
we were off. I told the engineer, Heniry 
Evans, he could kill time. At 11 a.m. 
we were in the city of New Orleans, 
the distance is 235 miles. I had wired 
Judge Newton O. Blanchard, who had 
been the iSecretary of Transportation 
when the first work on this Great 
Transcontinental Oriental Railway 
was done, to meet me at the St. Charles 
Hotel. I shall here describe this trans- 
action as nearly las I can in words, 
but the reader’s imagination must of 
course supply the surroundings which 
I will only say were of the most ele- 
gant character, being in the best parlor 
of the new St. Charles Hotel. At 11:30 
Judge Blanchard met me and gave me 
a cordial grip of the hand. I told him 
I wished him to introduce me to Mr. 
Pish. Promptly at the hour named in 
the letter to him from the President 
this gentleman walked in. The Judge 
then introduced me as Capt. Glover, the 
financial agent of the Great Orientail 
Railway. This was the first time I had 
ever seen Mr. Pish, whom I found to 
be a very pleasant gentleman, and I 
pleased him with my first words, by re- 
ferring to the services his late distin- 
guished father had rendered his coun- 
try, when he was the Secretary of 
State in President Grant’s Cabinet. We 
then sparred a little, a la Corbett and 

Pitzsimmons, for positions, when I 


made him a straight offer of twenty 
millions in gold for his Yazoo & Mis- 
sissippi Valley Railroad from New Or- 
leans, La., to Vicksburg. Miss. He hes- 
itated a little, saying T might make it 
five more, as the government was going 
to furnish or had given us the money. 

This gave me an idea what the 200,000 
miles of railoads would cost if the gov- 
ernment or the people, as they are 
pleased to stlye themselves, wanted to 
buy them. This was a mistake on the 
part of the gentleman. This govern- 
ment cannot give its money to any one. 
They only give us bonds to sell and we 
get the money from' the people, but 
mostly from the banks who, of course, 
have the money of the people, there for 
investment. But to proceed. I then 
showed him the minutes of the board of 
directors on the day before and told 
him that as wehave “Coxey’s Army” all 
on hand, it would not take us long to 
parallel his line. This I then proved by 
General Manager George L. Gurley, 
who was with me. Mr. Pish replied he 
had seen the results of the building be- 
side a big railroad in this country, 
notably the Nickle Plate, between Buf- 
falo and Chicago; that the companies 
would get Into a Kilkenny cat fight for 
the amusement of the public, while the 
stockholders and bond holders tore 
their hair and wept as David for Ab- 
solem. He would take the amount of- 
fered. I then wrote my check on the 
Whitney National bank for twenty mil- 
lions in gold, signing my name in true 
Hancock style, “John B. Glover, presi- 
dent of the board of directors of the 
New Orleans, Vicksburg, North Amer- 
ican, European and Oriental Railroad. 
When I had handed him the check I 
asked him to pass me some evidence of 
owmership. He pointed to two big iron 
trunks full of stocks. Col. Bill was 
there, so I told him to take charge of 
them. Mr. Pish smiled and said he 
thought the road had been well sold, 
and he then invited us to partake of 
Railroad King champagne and cigars. 
I drank very sparingly of the wine. I 
always kept my head clear, as I had 
one other big deal on hand. Just then 
Mr. C. C. Harvey, the president of the 
great Queen & Crescent railroad walk- 
ed in. To him I was then introduced 


IW THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS- CONTINENTAL R, R. 


by Col. W. H. Wise, of Shreveport, who 
the president of the great Oriental had 
a few days before appointed general 
counsel for the Great Cape Horn route. 
This was the first time I had ever met 
Mr. Harvey, who is a nice looking gen- 
tleman, an Englishm}an by birth, has 
dark hair, one of the^best of his class, 
and wears glasses also. I explained 
I wished to buy his railroad, the Vicks- 
burg, Shreveport and Pacific, from 
Shreveport, La., to Vicksburg, Miss., 
that our great route to Cape Horn was 
then complete to Shreveport and it was 
necessary for us to have this line to 
complete the Great Oriental system. 
My company wished to give him a 
fair compensation. I told him the same 
thing about Coxey’s army and proved 
it by General Manager Geo. L. McCor- 
mick, who was present. He asked me 
to value the road, including the great 
bridge over the Mississippi river. I 
said twenty-five millions. 

I will take that. Captain, he replied. 

I quickly wrote my check for this 
amount and now she belongs to the 
Great Oriental. Mr. Harvey then 
chatted pleasantly, saying he regret- 
ted that I did not mlake a success in 
India. I told him I did, without refer- 
ring to my troubles with the Prince of 
Wales. And my old road, which the 
company had lately acquire^d from Del- 
hi to Bombay, was the best In the 
OHent. At this point Col. Bill began 
to fill his pockets, with cigars and the 
bottles of champagne that were left. 
I looked at him, but he said I was run- 
ning the gold reserve down With those 
kind of transactions and president Mc- 
Kinley would have to sell bonds in a 
few days. He went on to kick, for the 
first time in his life, saying the first 
thing I knew, the free silver men would 
be demanding we take our silver off 
the engines and coin it up at 16 to 1. 
.He told our porter to take a basket 
which was left unopened, down to our 
car; that the Captain had paid quite 
enough for the roads and that might 
be Included. OSTow had any other man 
have done this, he would have lost his 
prestige, but Col. Bill was a character 
and a gold bug and he could do what 
he liked. Capt. H. J. Seiforth, of the 
Picayune, who was present at my re- 
quest, said it was the best and the 
quickest done, of any thing he ever 


saw, and he loomed me up like I had 
been in the cabinet. At 1 p.m. I left 
the city again and at 4 p.m. was in my 
office ready for whatever might turn 
up. The car in which we all went was 
visited that day by many people, not so 
much on account of the material, of 
which the trucks and wheels were made 
(silver) but the originality of the com- 
pany in adopting that way to get rid of 
the large quantity the country had on 
hand, which gave the gold bugs the 
nightmare. Col. Bill said he would 
bet one of his boxes of silver that I 
could buy the earth in two hours and 
in thirty minutes close the contract to 
put up a fence. When these checks 
came in our comptroller, John McCor- 
mick, eyes stuck out a foot. He told 
me that he had been with the Great 
Oriental ten years and had never seen 
a check so large as that. The great 
tunnel in the Behring strait he told me 
only cost eight million. That was noth- 
ing when the company began work 
from Gibralta to the Cape of Good 
Hope. I drew them every day for a 
million. That is now completed and the 
Great Oriental engirdles the world. 

While I was in New Orleans 1 met 
Col. Wm. Murray, many years with 
the Great Illinois Central, and with the 
approval of President Coppage, I made 
him our general passenger agent. The 
unanimous verdict of all the people that 
the writer has talked with on the mat- 
ter is that Captain Glover was the 
swiftest business man that ever walked 
the American continent and was well 
worth the $500 per month that the com- 
pany paid him. The Captain never 
reached in pay the ambassadors to 
Prance, but he always said their pay 
was quite sufficient, especially when so 
rqany common mortals had to make 
buckle and tongue meet on 90 cents per 
day. 


CHAPTER XV. 


I promised the reader, in the last 
chapter, I would give him some of tlie 
details concerning the completion of 
the Great Oriental Railroad. The 
things and the conversations which I 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 117 


copy appear to have occurred between 
the first day of June and the 15th day 
of September in the year in which this 
story beg-an, and fifteen days after the 
great line was opened to the business 
of the world. Here the writer meets 
the most difficult task of his life for the 
Captain’s notes are often blurred with 
tears. There is no doubt but what he 
fully appreciateed the folly of his fel- 
low workingman, who imagined they 
would do great things without one dol- 
lar to do it with. No man knew better 
than did Captain Glover the power of 
money and position. That was wh^^ he 
took on so in the Grand Central Hotel, 
when he learned that his ships were 
lost. But the real briny tears were no 
doubt shed when he thought of those 
poor ambassadors and how they walk- 
ed the floor at night until they beceane 
thin like bean poles, and were finally 
attacked with insomnia, and had to be 
brought home to Cape May and have 
the gentle sea breeze fan the color 
to their cheeks, all because they give 
so much thought to the struggling poor 
in their native land. He always said, 
when referring to the matter, that a 
government that did not protect its 
citizens any better than did the United 
States, both at home and abroad, was 
paying quite enough for its dignity, 
when it had borrowed money to pay ex- 
penses. One other thing that seemed 
to worry the captain was this. In a 
conversation with his friend, the man- 
ager, he learned in the year 1900 a bill 
was introduced into congress to create 
a department of society and make him 
a cabinet officer. When the bill came 
up Congressman Banks called attention 
to the fact that this was a land where 
men have to work for a living. Even 
the President must do so when out of 
office. We had no people as yet who 
were kept up by the government in idle- 
ness. He then cited the fact that the 
whole consular service of this g wern- 
ment for the past twenty years, had 
been nothing but a fashionable brigade, 
and making a bold strike he moved 
that they be changed to the treasury 
department as their duties w^ere com- 
mercial, and not social, so said. This 
with the sending over of Col. Bush, fix- 
ed the status of our representatives 
abroad, so that they would not have to 


appeal to the “King’s Daughters” for 
money to come home on, when they had 
been paid $17,500, and they never again 
acted the part of poor railroad men, 
and threatened to strike. 

But I am wandering' from the notes, 
and the part I wish to give. When the 
attorney general had gone the Presi- 
dent sat for some time with his hands 
over his face, like he had a great prob- 
lem on his mind. I did not disturb 
him. It must have been at least one 
hour, all had gone except Captain M. 
M. Robertson and myself. He was ask- 
ing me what effect I thought it would 
have on the gold reserve when we com- 
menced to build our line from Gibral- 
tar to Cape of Good Hope. The Pres- 
ident had received a box a few days be- 
fore, from our engineer corps, who was 
over there at work, which he claimed 
would wash out at least a $1,000 to the 
ton of dirt; but we wanted to keep the 
matter quiet, until after the State cam- 
paign. Bye and bye the president walk- 
ed up to me. 

Captain Glover, said he, I regret that 
little scene very much. I would not 
care, so far as you are concerned, but 
I do not care to let my general mana- 
gers know that I had a bluff run on 
me, and that I did not throw the man 
out of the window. But, you know, I 
told you why I did not go to work, was 
because those “hay seeds” would not 
buy bonds. They got lOo for their cot- 
ton, but I suppose they have no confi- 
dence in their country or its govern- 
ment, so I will leave them be for the 
present, I want you to write some let- 
ters to the Secretary of Transportation 
to close that deal with Rothschild, Mor- 
gan and Co. I do not care what the 
newspapers have to say about the mat- 
ter. Five years is quite long enough to 
wait on them. Tell him to let me know 
as soon as the one hundred millions are 
available; also write to Mr. Fish in 
New York and tell him I wish to buy 
the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley rail- 
road, also to Mr. C. C. Harvey of the 
Flower lines of the Queen and Crescent, 
he is in New Orleans at present. You 
will know what is proper to say 
to them. All this correspondence 
I conducted until I closed the deal 
in the city of New Orleans of 
which you have read. He at 


118 THE GEE AT ORIENTAL AND TRANS^CONTINENTAL R, R. 


the same time told me to write an As- 
sociated Press dispatch calling “Cox- 
ey’s Army’* to meet at Vicksburg, in 
not less than one week to finish the 
a line of railway reaching to Paris 
whose time and equippment would rival 
the world. 

When the president had told me of 
the letters he wished me to write, he 
conversed pleasantly for a few minutes 
when he took his gold headed cane and 
walked out. I turned to Captain Rob- 
ertson and dictated the letters, and in a 
few minutes we had them off and our 
dinner hour having arrived we left al- 
so. At 3 o’clock the colonel came in 
again, and he was all smiles, and that 
was the last time I ever saw him out of 
humor. 

Captain, said he, I have made some 
inquiry about the visit of Attorney- 
Oeneral Robbins, this mo-rning and I 
think the “Belmonts,” a local club, 
must have employed him. I saw the 
mayor, Chester R. McFarland, and 
everything is all right. But what I was 
smiling at was this: to think a man of 
you wonderful information, did not 
know of the Great Oriental railroad, 
and had to come thousands of miles 
and then get your information from the 
porter of the hotel. This seems strange 
to me; can you explain? 

I think I can, said I. I cannot say I 
did not hear of the Oriental railway. 
When I was in Paris some five years 
ago, the matter was talked of. I have 
no doubt some of my friends bought 
some of the bonds that were sold to as- 
sist the enterprise. All men wish to 
know is, that the bonds are good, and 
we know the government must pay her 
debts in good sound money. As to what 
use the same is applied, we do not 
care. As I told you once before, I 
never saw an American paper for near- 
ly twenty years. One other point — it 
makes no difference from what source 
a man may get his information, the 
question is, is it true. We can all learn 
much from those we think know noth- 
ing. This matter is ten years old. No 
one talks much of things ten years old 
in this country except “free silver 
men” who will tell of the good times 
before 1873. But, Colonel, said I, here 
is a copy of the press dispatch for that 
army, and I want to make this obser- 


vation. I could understand why there 
was a “Coxey Army” in the second 
term of President Cleveland, but why 
there should be one in this first quar- 
ter- of the 20th century with the Ori- 
ental Railroad thrown in, I cannot un- 
derstand. Can you explain that to me? 

Well, captain, I cannot do so to the 
satisfaction of all, and I can only say 
this, that there are at least ten million 
men in this country who have nothing 
but their labor to sell, and in times of 
business depression they will often find 
themselves thrown out of work; but to 
tell you the truth, I never paid much 
attention to the thing twenty years ago. 
I could not see what they could hope 
for, but their unfortunate condition ex- 
cited my pity. Many men in good po- 
sitions imagine that it is a very easy 
matter to get work, but let .some of 
them try it. You say you could under- 
stand the reasons for it then, then you 
can explain it to me. 

I was not in this ooitnty, Oodoncl, ©aid 
I, when the “Coxey Army” marched to 
W'ashington city, but I have read of it; 
and while it was ridiculous, to the ex- 
treme, most of the men were to /be 
pitied, and while I know njothing could 
be gained by a wild goose chase of that 
ciharacter, I have a;lways contended 
that those men were right. 

Why, Captain Glover, do you say that 
they were right in going there to show 
themselves to Congress? 

Because I was here when Mr. Cleve- 
land and his friends made their can- 
vass, and they told the workingmen 
all over this land the way to make this 
country prosperous and themselves 
happy, was to turn Benjamin Harri- 
son and his Cabinet out, and put him 
and his Cabinet itn and let him give the 
country a business- administration. 
When the mills of the country began to 
close and the business of the railroads 
fell off, and men found themselves 
out of work, they were right to go to 
Mr. Cleveland and his Congress, and 
ask them to deliver the goods of that 
business administration But they were 
chased like -so many rabbits, but I hope 
the workingman learned how much 
faith to put in the declarations of the 
Democrats when out off power. 

Well, C'aptain, said the Coaonea, you 


THE GHEAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. .119 


know, we are all creatures of imagina- 
tion, aacL thing's are often not so good 
as we suppose, or so harmful, hut I 
will tell you the facts. There is no 
“Coxey Army,” hut when a large body 
O'f men are called at any place to work 
it is customary to call them “Coxey 
Army.” That was the sense I meant 
it. 

All right, said I. I now understand 
what you mean, I never mock or laugh 
at the mdsf or tunes of others. While I 
have done well myself in life, I do 
not consider all men should have done 
or could have done so well. There is 
much to he considered, in passing upon 
the success or failure, as we may de- 
termine it, of our fellowmen. We must 
consider money and what it will do, 
and influential friends, and what they 
can do. 

Just then Jiudge George Anderson 
walked in. He was iMinister to Spain 
under President Stevenson. The Pres- 
ident had requested him to call, as he 
was expecting some troulhle firom the 
“Phantom Cluh.” He wanted a good 
lawyer to help us thi’ough, I had his 
commission ready, and it made him 
leading counsel of all the 'Great Ori- 
ental system. He made some allusion 
to the new amhassador to France that 
McKinley had just apointed, and said 
he wondered if he would he ahle to live 
on $17,500, or if he would want Congress 
to raise his pay to $17,000,000. My Sec- 
retary, said the President, could tell 
you what he thinks about it. 

When the matter was referred to me, 
I give them a little rub, as I generally 
did, when it came up in course of con- 
versation. 

Captain, said Ool. Coppage, I do he- 
live you are going to develop into a full- 
fledge crank, about those Amlhassa- 
dors. I suppose you would like to try 
it, would you not? 

I do not wish any job of that kind at 
the hands of the President, I replied. 
I did not think I was competent for a 
position of that kind. 

But, Captain, you do not seem' to re- 
member when you came here, about 
one month ago, you went to the Grand 
Central and engaged board at $200 per 


month and was ipreparlng to put on 
quite a lot of style when those ships 
were lost. 

Now the Colonel and I had had this 
same question up, two or three times, 
and I was itching for him to make 
this remark. 

Yes, said I, I did; but every dollar 
that I engaged to pay there, was the 
money I made at legitimate business, 
railroading in India, and was mine. I 
never have or never shall contend that 
when a man makes his money in any 
kind of a legitimate business, or pro- 
fession, he shall not pay it out in any 
manner that may appear to him to be 
best, but when it comes to taking the 
money that is wrung from all the peo- 
ple by taxation, and when men are 
made to wear the f ellon stripes, because 
he may make himself a little wine from 
his own vines that this government 
shall get money to run and pay its offi- 
cers, when it comes to wasting that 
money on fancy dress balls and wine to 
fools, that is quite another thing. We 
are told that the business of these men 
is commercial, and for that reason they 
are sent. Then if thatvbe true, they are 
receiving more than do thousands of 
good business men in this and other 
countries. If we are running a society 
machine over there, we want to know 
it. 

Captain, said the judge, you would 
not want to put the representatives of 
a great government like ours on four 
pounds of meat and one peck of meal 
would you? 

No. I am no Cheap John m^n; but 
when I think oif the many farmers of 
our land, who I am not giving any ad- 
vice to, making cotton at 4c a pound, 
and how their wives and daughters 
have to live, and making corn for 25c a 
bushel and raising good horses at $25 
apiece, and of the many railroad men 
who are risking their lives day by day 
in carrying on the commerce of the peo- 
ple, and of our sailors who cling to 
reeling masts on stormy seas, for a few 
dollars a day, when I think of all these 
and what they must do, I know they 
are the people who make our country 
great and grand. When men are sent 
abroad to look after them and speak of 
them and their greatness, they might 


120 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


afford to do so for $47.50 a day. If our 
gold bug friends are to be believed then 
this amount has twice the purchasing 
power it had a few years, ago. We see 
they are paid a greater sum than many 
good men and women earn in a life 
time, with its trials and struggles. Our 
country could get along very well with 
out wine drinkers and fancy dress ball 
givers, but she could hardly afford to 
part with her farmers and other work- 
ers, who are year by year adding to the 
wealth of these United States. 

But, captain, said the judge, you can- 
not change it by what you say. 

I do not hope or expect to, said I, but 
this is a free country, and I 'can at least 
express my opinion on them and their 
demands. It seems to me we are get- 
ting a species of royalty in this countiT 
in fact without the najne. 

Captain, said the judge, you must be 
a Democrat. Well I do not know if I 
I am or not. If that is Democracy I 
am with them. 

But, Captain, said the president, 
money will accumulate in the treasury. 
What would you do with it? 

Do with it? said I. Why I would do 
as congress has done, help such enter- 
prises as your Great Oriental railroad. 
I would pay the public debts and force 
that billion and a half of dollars out in- 
to business, where it would have to 
take the same chance to make profits 
that a working man does to sell his la- 
bor, or the products of his labor I do 
not believe in a system of legislating 
that is always making soft snaps for 
one man’s money and hard ones for all 
others that are not inside of the ring; 
for there is always more or less risk in 
all kinds of business enterprises. 

But captain, said the president, you 
do not seem to understand that the 
more wine the ambassador drinks, the 
more that helps the wine growers. 

Is that what you call prosperity? tak- 
ing from one class by taxation and giv- 
ing to another? What is government 
but one set of men levying tribute and 
taking money from the other class? All 
money taken from men to keep up the 
government more than neccesary is 
just so much robbery under the forms 
of law. But those who pay for this 
wine are not asked to drink it or even 
given a thought. 


What do you mean by that Captain, 
asked the colonel. 

I mean the middle dlass, who of 
course are the most numerous class; 
who never flinch from no call or demand 
upon them, and wiho are day by day 
and year by year becoming a prey to 
those sharks. 

Captain, I hope you are not becoming 
cynical. 

No, I am not. I do not suppose there 
is a man in the world better satisfied 
than I am to-day, but I am no fool, T 
hope, and I only want to let them know 
I cannot be blinded by any such trash 
as I ■ see hawked about to fool the 
working man. I think the readers of 
history will find out that all this dis- 
play had its origin with maji, when he 
w'as coming out of savage life and is by 
them used to keep the ignorant in sub- 
jection. 

Just then Colonel Bill came in bring- 
ing a jug of water from the famous 
well on the Rockey Mountains which 
the Oriental railway had dug up there. 
All took a glass and pronounced it the 
best in the land. The president asked 
me what I thought would become of the 
country under President McKinley. 

I suppose it will go along very well, 
said I, if people who want to work can- 
find it, and not make fools of them- 
selves about so many free things. 

Judge Anderson then asked mie this 
question. Captain, you approved of the 
aid that the United States gave the Great 
Oriental Railway. Are we to under- 
stand by this that you favor the gov- 
ernment ownership of i,^ilroad? 

No sir. You are not to understand 
anything of that kind as coming from 
me. First, I do not consider it possi- 
ble, fori this government to lacquire the 
railroads, for there is not money suf- 
ficient seeking investment in bonds to 
pay for them. ‘They would cost this 
government about eight billilons of dol- 
lars. This is a greater sum than the 
world has coined just at present. Some 
insist that the government should 
print greenbacks to that amount; and 
call them non-interest bearing bonds, 
and pay the owners for then, and take 
charge of them. I suppose it is use- 
less to say to any one who has made 
any study of the money question that 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 121 


greenbacks never was money, but only 
promises to pay money. This govern- 
ment cannot give value to anything 
by the pictures it may put on paper, 
or the impirestsions it may make on 
metal. If so, why not call one dollar 
one thoiusand. The value of money 
arises from its exchange, value — how 
much of the laibor of othe'rs, will it 
command. A government bond is not 
money, but it may or it does represent 
money. The only things that are now 
accepted as money is gold and silver; 
and not too much silver. These are 
some of the reasons, why I consider the 
government ownership of railroads imr 
possible in this country for many years. 
We have, or at least the igovernment 
has, not got the money to piay for them 
and cannot get it from the people, be- 
cause they have not so large an amount 
to invest in this government’s bond^ 
from their various kinds of business. 
I suppose there are many railroads in 
this country that have not paid their 
stockholders or bondholders a penny 
since they were built, and they would 
be very willing to dump them on the 
government for a gold bond, exempt 
from all taxation and drawing 3 or 4 
per cent, interest. That would be a 
grand day for the man who holds some 
of the stock, called 49 per cent. I do 
not here refer to the Great Oriental. 
Then the government owenership of 
railroads would largely add to the civil 
service of this government, which is 
already too large. We have today too 
much government, he is governed best 
who is governed least. Then the opera- 
tion by the government would be much 
against the men engaged in the busi- 
ness. Any trouble that would result 
in their discharge from one road would 
subject them to a system of blacklist- 
ing, that would follow them all over 
the same as it does in the postofRce de- 
partment. A man dismissed from the 
postal service cannot find work at that 
business again. Then the conductors 
would all soon become color blind, and 
not being able to tell their money from 
the government’s money, would of 
course be afraid to not give Uncle Sam 
the advantage of the big end, and would 

give up all they make every day and 


our great government would go on 
getting rich, while they, poor souls, 
would be working only for the glory 
of the country. These are some of 
the miany objections. I could give more 
were I to dwell on the question. Judge, 
I hope I have pointed out sufficiently 
tO' satisfy the men on the Great Ori- 
ental Railroad and all others that there 
is nothing in this government buying 
the railroads that would in any way 
help them, so long as they are not 
stockholders, and have stock on which 
they are not getting any dividends. 

The president had in the meantime 
while I was relating my opinion gone 
out. 

You know. Judge said I, with a smile, 
that the roads of this country are all 
run just to give the employes work and 
there is no money in the building of 
them, although it is being done at the 
rate of about three thousand miles per- 
year and at a cost of not less than $30,- 
000 per mile. Men are just throwing 
away that much money because they 
love their fellow men. My understand- 
ing about this Oriental railway was 
that he and his company agreed to 
build and equip the road with silver 
plate engines and cars, and pay the in- 
terest on the bonds, which is 3 per cent. 
Five years after the road is through 
they are to begin a sinking fund, to pay 
the bonds which mature in fifty years. 
The government reserves the right to 
begin calling them in at any time after 
ten years. The office of Secretary of 
Transportation was formd to look after 
this and other matters. The reason 
why the line is not to-day open for 
through trains from New Orleans to 
Paris, Prance, is because one hundred 
million of her bonds were set aside for 
the special benefit of those who were so 
free to criticise the deal that Mr. Car- 
lisle made twenty years ago, but we 
have decided not to delay the work any 
longer and I sent some letters off to- 
day that will bring the money, gold 
money, the only kind that goes now, 
and we shall have our line open by the 
1st day of September. Our great bridge 
where we will cross the river at Milli- 
ken’s Bend, La., is growing day by day. 
The “Coxey Army” will all be here in 
a few days and all is well that ends 
well. 


122 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


Captain, said the judge, you do not 
seem to ' realize that the sale of four 
hundred and fifty million dollars of 
government bonds to help build the 
G^reat Oriental railroad has largely in- 
creased the bond holding class. 

Judge, said I, you do not seem to re- 
alize what it has done for the world and 
mankind. Thousands of men have been 
employed to build it and many thous- 
and are now employed to operate it. I 
think more good has been done work- 
ingmen in those bonds than all others, 
with the exception of those which were 
made to preserve the Union. In addi- 
tion to what I have said, the president 
tells me that his standard oif pay has 
solved the labor question. This should 
be glory enough for one generation. 

By this time the President had re- 
turned. 

Captain, said the judge, you seemed 
to have on your economy coat a few 
minutes ago. I wanted to ask what is 
to be the salary attached to this ap- 
pointment as attorney for the Great 
Oriental. 

Well, Judge, said I, I believe I am in 
the right line about what I have said 
about our foreign consuls, but this 
seems to be a world where one set of 
men are trying to get all they can from 
the other set, and you have prepared 
to keep them from doin^ so. The Pres- 
ident tells me to say to you that your 
salary will be $5,000 per year and all 
expenses. When out of the city on any 
business for the company, and a sum- 
mer resort on the Jthine. 

That will satisfy me Captain. I do 
not want the earth. 

After Judge Anderson was gone, Col. 
Bill said I had given it to those amfbas- 
sadors just about like it should have 
been done long ago. They talk about 
work. If they had to work on a sec- 
tion of the Oriental railroad for $1.50 
and drink swamp water for a while 
they would know what work meant. 
But I came in Colonel to tell you that 
the banquet which was to take place 
at the Piazza Hotel tonight will not 
take place. The general manager of 
the Vicksburg, Jackson & Ship Island 
railroad did not get his speech ready 
and he told me to come up and see Cap- 
tain Glover and find out if he would 


help him. Said he heard he was pret- 
ty good on things of that kind. 

What is his subject Col. Bill, I ask- 
ed. 

The equal distribution of wealth. 

Well, said I, you tell the gentleman 
for me, that I can do nothing for him. 
There’s no such thing in this world as 
that possible. Men will always differ 
in worldly goods the same as they do 
in the color of their hair and eyes, and 
you had as well dream of a vacuum in 
nature. Tell him he might see some of 
these free silver men or People’s Par- 
ty. They claim tio have the philoso- 
pher’s stone on that and all other 
things. 

Then Captain, said the president, if 
the banquet will not take place to- 
night we will go to the opera as it is 
now about supper time. With this we 
all arose and walked out of the room. 

As the president and myself stepped 
from the elevator in the rotunda of 
The Carroll hotel, having had our sup- 
per and finished this long conversation 
which I hope has interested you, while 
it may not have converted, and we 
were preparing to go to the opera, the 
banquet having been declared off, ow- 
ing to the failure of the great speech, 
the president was waited on by a com- 
mittee of six or more and here I will 
say, happened one of the most sur- 
prising incidents of my life, but as most 
men in this country had at home, or 
abroad met the same fate, I was never 
twitted about it. Misery loves com- 
pany. But to proceed with my story. 
They were the rqost curious looking 
people I ever saw, and for want of a 
better name, I will call them gentle- 
men ladies. They wore bloomers, had ' 
on coats, vests and hats of men, yet 
their features and voices proved they 
belonged to what was once known as 
the gentler sex. The president held a 
short conference with them, while I 
stood by looking at them, I know in a 
very staring and impolite manner, but 
I could not help it. They were the fun- 
niest looking things I ever saw. The 
president called me up and introduced 
me, as Captain Glover one of the new 
officials of the Great Oriental railroad, 
and his private secretary. 

I had just finished bowing in my 
most polite manner to Miss Pauline 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 123 


Trilby Goosenheimer, for that was the 
lady’s name, 'when she took me a sharp 
slap in the face that turned me blind 
for a minute. She followed this up 
with blows not according to the rules 
of the Marquis of Queensbury, saying* 
she would show me what it cost to 
stare at a lady in that way. Two of 
the party had gone in the barber shop, 
presumably to get shaved, and hearing 
the noise, came running up. I defend- 
ed mysel'f as best I could, showing no 
disposition to fight, only warding off 
her blows with my gold headed cane. 
But seeing them all pull off their coats 
to go for me, I fled in mortal terror to 
the office, where I was followed by the 
president, convulsed with laughter. 

What in the name of that country 
Bob Ingersoll does not believe in, is all 
this? colonel, said I. 

Why Captain, those are some of my 
conductors from the north end of the 
Great Oriental Railroad. That is the 
committee General Manager Haynes 
telephoned me about a few days ago. I 
do not know what has delayed them. I 
suppose they have run every agent out 
from the Rocky Mountains down to the 
Hot Springs. But that is the direct re- 
sult of the adoption of woman suffrage. 
You know that up in that country 
(Wyoming) the women vote, and run 
every thing. I could not help it. The 
law of the State of Wyoming called for 
it and I have no choice in the matter. 

^ What do they want? 

The earth, said the president, with a 
smile. 

Colonel Coppage, said I, if these are 
the kinds of employes I shall have to 
deal with, you will please accept my 
resignation at once. Continuing, said 
I: Some days ago in conversation -with 
the manager, he made some very ironi- 
cal remarks about the constitutional 
convention of Mississippi and the Code 
of Mississippi of 1892; permit me here 
to say that while that book, the code, 
may have many defects, I am pleased 
to note that they let the noble women 
of our land distribute charity with one 
hand, while they ruled their homes 
with the other and allowing the men to 
run this government. I never could., 
understand why they jumped on me un- 
less they had an idea that for the fifty 
years which I had lived I had been 


proof against all the charms and wiles 
of woman, while the president fell at 
last, much to the gratification of his 
many friends. Women in all ages and 
in many respects, have never changed 
and are not making any trouble with 
other ladies’ husbands. I was going to 
see them next day, and try and make 
peace with them, but learned they left 
that night for New Orleans after the 
war in which' the women got the best of 
it, as they usually do. 

The Preisident and I proceeded to 
the Opera House, Captain, said he, why 
did you not fight those conductors? 

I do not think it a good idea. Colonel, 
said I, to fight conductors, and espe- 
cially female condiuctors. If they do 
forget themselves, I will try and not 
forget myself and that I- ami a gentle- 
man. Colonel, said I, do not tell Gen- 
eral Manager Geo. L. Gurley, that I 
leit those women whip me and I will 
give you a box of Railroad King Cigars, 
and a suit of cloithing like the one the 
cottoin mill made for my friend the 
“Prince of Wales.” 

To this the President replied. Captain, 
you are not the first man that has been 
knocked out by the women, and you 
will not (be the last one. I will call 
over a few. Sampson. Sollomon, and 
King David of old, Caesar, Napoleon 
and Col. W. C. P. Breckinridge. The 
other day General Manager Wm. L. 
Harrison, of the Vicksburg & Canton 
Railroad, lost a case in the United 
States Court in Wyoming involving $50,- 

000 because one of his conductors re- 
fused to kiss an old maid on leaving 
the train. Miss Susan B. Anthony sit 
as Judge in the case, and you may 
have some idea what the feeling of the 
jury was when the Hon. Joseph Hirsh, 
who has been Attorney General in 
President Morrison’s Cabinet, made 
them a speech of four hours. I tell 
you Captain, said the Collonel, in a 
serious mood, this is an eventful age 
we lare n^ow approaching and the men 
may be thankful if they are permitted 
to live on the face of the earth. Just 
then we reached the Opera House on 
the corner of Clay and Cherry streets. 

1 listened a few minutes at the band 
playing in the Castle Hill Park; and 


124 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


the first act was over the Colonel turn- 
ed to me, and asked me this question: 
Captain, did you tell Col. Bill to pro- 
vide that army with a spade? 

I did. 


CHAPTER XVI. 


I was a little timid the next morning 
about going down in the office after I 
had been whipped by those lady con- 
ductors. The hotel was crowded and I 
saw several reporters and I made sure 
the papers would be full of it, but to 
my joy there was not a word about it. 
Talking with a friend at breakfast, he 
told me those things were so common 
that it was no longer an item of news. 
That it was a daily occurrence for the 
“New Woman” to walk up and slap 
her husband in the face if he had gone 
out on the streets before he swept the 
house and washed the dishes. Truly 
the world is on the upward plane. So 
when I heard this I put on a bold front. 

At 12 o’clock the president received 
a telephone message from General 
Manager W. R. Haynes, then at the 
great tunnel in the Behring strait, that 
he would be wanted immediately or as 
soon as he could make it to the city of 
Sitka, the capital of Alaska, to meet in 
council the Esquimeaux Indians. That 
one of them demanded that he make 
him a conductor or a general manager, 
or he would destroy the tressel on 
which the road was built, heretofore 
described. He hurriedly packed his va- 
lise and told Capt. H. J. McGee, who 
is one of the general passenger agents 
of the Great Oriental, who is a fine 
stenoghrapher, he wished him to go 
with him and take down what the In- 
dian chief had to say. He called me 
and told me he would in all probability 
be gone for a week or more and he 
would put me in charge. In fact I was 
to be the president. Whatever I did 
he would approve of when he returned. 
I could discharge any general manager 
I saw fit, but I must under no circum- 


stances part with Aunt Jennie Brown, 
and tell her, in calling trains to add 
Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris, London 
and the great tunnel and the Yellow 
iStone park for the north, and Santiago. 
Cape Horn, South America and the 
City of Mexico for west, all these 
points being now reached by the Great 
Oriental railroad. (This character is a 
faithful old colored woman who for 
years called the trains for the Queen 
& Crescent route at Vicksburg and 
whose originality always amused 
strangers very much.) He said I would 
have the assistance of Col. Bill should 
I have to put on any war paint; to re- 
ceive the army and purchase all need- 
ed supplies. He had made a requisi- 
tion on the New Secretary of war for 
tents and he had telegraphed him that 
anything for “Coxey’s Army” would be 
immediately filled. The new depot will 
be completed in a few days, you may 
move all the furniture in but see that 
it all has the required amount of silver 
on it. Let everything remain in these 
rooms here in The Carroll Hotel until 
I return, he remarked. These Belmonts 
think they have run a grand bluff on 
me, but my general road master. Col. 
Hugh Curry, has been working be- 
tween here and the Hot Springs, with 
a big force of men for a year and he 
tells me this morning he will have an 
engine at the Millikens Bend, a point 25 
miles north of the city, where the great 
bridge is, for me. My car will go up % 
on the steamer Northern Pacific, which 
belongs to us. We have our line to that 
point for the last ten years and our 
cars are taken on here and put off there 
and from there we go thence to St. 
Petersburg. I will take a carriage to 
the National Cemetery and will walk 
over the long approach and bridge. 

Well Col. Coppage said I, the line is 
then about complete. 

Yes, except the great bridge, which 
we will open with grand ceremonies on 
the 1st day of September. You had 
best write to President McKinley and 
tell him to give me a positive answer, 
if he will be here, or I will return by 
New York and see if ex-President De- 
pew will not come. But one other point 
Captain. Do not let the public know 
that our line is done at the Bend as yet 
or they will set you wild for free passes. 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 125 


When they come to me I always tell 
them I will give it, but they must walk 
to the Hot Springs to take the train. 

Well, colonel, said I, why did you not 
tell me all this before, and what wlll 
you want with this army? 

Well, Captain, it is not a good idea to 
tell a man all you know, on short ac- 
quaintance. But one month you have 
been with me. I am now satisfied you 
are a true man and a gentleman in all 
that the term emplies, and as an evi- 
dence of this, I am putting you in 
charge of the biggest thing on wheels 
on earth, this “Great Oriental Rail- 
way,’* and giving you power to check 
on our gold reserve. This should satis- 
fy you, if I have kept any thing back 
from you. As for the army, we will 
need them; the track must all be put in 
good order. 

I want to make it stone ballast from 
New Orleans td the Behring Strait 
tunnel, or to the border of Alaska. Ten 
thousand of these men will soon be 
alble to get out the rock at my quarry 
on the 'Rocky Mountains. Then I want 
to show a goiod many men who were 
never out of work a day in their lives, 
or out 'Of money and who were born 
with silver spoons in their mouths, 
that these men will work, if they could 
find it. 

Colonel, said I, you do not mean to 
tell me this morning that you have a 
railroad now, so far completed from 
this city that you can run an engine 
and cars over it, and the people of this 
city, and even the newspapers, who get 
on to everything, are not aware of it 
yet? 

Yes, Captain, that is just what I mean 
to say, the peopile who want to pay 
their fare are in possession of the 
facts, and have been for some time. 
All that is necessary is to get the bridge 
done. 

Well, (Said I, I believe I am a fool. 

No, you are not. Captain. But there 
are many things about this Great 
Oriental Railway you do not know; but 
take good care of everything and tell 
our man Boftin to hurry up with that 
bridge, and with this the President 
shook me cordially by the hand, for he 
liked me, and was gone on his way to 
meet the big Indian Chief. As he (walk- 


ed out I locked the door, sat down in 
his chair and tried to realize what had 
taken place, for the whole thing seem- 
ed to me like a dream; I cannot say 
that I felt no personal pride in what 
had taken place, for I did, for in less 
than six weeks after I had arrived in 
the city and after every dollar I pos- 
sessed in the world, and that of many 
of my friends had been swept away by 
the loss of that “fleet of ships,” I found 
myself in a position second only to the 
President of these United States. 
When my money was all gone, I fear- 
ed men, and many of them my former 
friends, would shun me; but it is my 
pleasure to here record they did noth- 
ing of the kind. A few days after the 
banquet, it became generally known 
through the New Orleans and other 
papers that my ships were lost and 
my Central American Railroad scheme 
had failed. I met Gov. Pat Henry, Con- 
gressman W. B. Banks and many 
others, 'and they were just the same 
as they had been when they thought 
T had or could command millions. No 
one made any change in their treat- 
m'ent of me. And though I never arose 
again to wealth, I found myself in the 
company of Wm. McKinley, the Presi- 
dent of the United States, and Tom B. 
Reed, who had been, and mingled free- 
ly wdth those who counted their money 
by the millions. I could only attribute 
my trefatment to the splendid education 
which I had given myself, for I was 
born a poor boy, and never saw a Col- 
lege until I was a grown young man. 
Then I cannot too often impress upon 
young men this maxim — get knowledge, 
for “knowledge is power” and a good 
education cannot be lost at sea, as 
was my money, or loose its market 
value by the rise or fall of the cotton 
of silver market, or by the deprecia- 
tion of stocks or bonds. It is exempt 
from seizure o'r sale by any process 
whatever. You may be poor, but if 
you are honest people will always ad- 
mire you for you intelligence. There 
is nothing worse running at large than 
a rich fool. Then I was never false to 
any friend and never abused any trusts 
In my life I had dreamed of some big 

things, but to become the head of the 


126 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


big-g-est thing- on wheels on earth had 
never been one of them. I began to 
think what it could mean to me. I was 
in a position as great as that occupied 
by the great statesman from Kentucky, 
who was the Secretary of the Treasury 
in President Cleveland’s cabinet his 
second term. I had a gold reserve to 
protect larger than his; and Col. Bill, a 
noted capitalist, to help me, for we sold 
two hundred million of bonds, includ- 
ing many for the Great Cape Horn 
route, (had some printed ourselves at 
the office of the Shreveport Judge; 
don’t you see?) and I got ready to pro- 
tect it, as you will see, and though I 
had not one dollar that I could call my 
own, that day the president left me and 
went to meet the “Indians,” where the 
chances were ten to one he would get 
tomahawked, and be laid up for a long 
time for his hair to return. I will tell 
the reader the truth. I had no more 
thought of using one dime for my pei> 
sonal use, or giving a wine supper to 
my friends at the expense of the Great 
Oriental, as an ambassador would do at 
the expense of his government, than I 
had of sewing myself up in a sack, and 
leaping into the Mississippi river from 
the Queen and Crescent’s great bridge. 

Many contend that there are no hon- 
est men, but I know different. There 
are men to-day on railroads who 
handle millions every day and do so 
without the slightest thought or wish of 
appropriating one penny and hold hon- 
or above the price of money; or all it 
would buy. It will be a sad day for the 
world when there are no honest men, 
or only so, because they may fear the 
jail. But I am wandering from my 
subject, and what I wanted to tell you. 
The president had left one of his hats 
hanging on the hat-rack — the boys 
about the office called it the crown. I 
took it down and tried it on; it was too 
large as most president’s hats are for 
ordinary men. I looked up and there I 
saw the “sword of Damiocles” hanging 
over my head and suspended by “a sin- 
gle hair.” The point, sharp as a needle, 
seemed but one inch from my eye. I 
grasped my w^alking cane and struck 
violently at it, when I distinctly heard 
it shatter and fall about the room. I 
then took off the hat, when the whole 
thing vanished like a dream. I knew 


I was sober, and then I concluded it 
was only the working of a vivid imag- 
ination, but it was a vision of mind 
trouble, which came in a day or two, as 
you will see. Now the reader should 
know that I had only been at work for 
the Great Oriental Railroad a week be- 
fore I learned that there were two 
wings of the company. The “gold 
men” had charge and the “^Silver wing” 
was trying to get charge. The gold 
men had built the line, the same as they 
have the honor and credit of our coun- 
try. Three days after the president 
had left me I received a letter signed 
by Tom, as president, and Dick and 
Harry, as secretaries, saying that a 
meeting of the stockholders represent- 
ing 75 per cent, of the stock and all the 
brains of the Great Oriental, had been 
held and they would send a man down 
at 12 o’clock to throw me in the river, if 
I did not give up the gold reserve, and 
the Great Seal and -the records of the 
company. This is the sword, said T, 
that I saw in our room in The Carroll 
tiotel a few days ago, for then II was in 
our new office in the new depot at the 
foot of Washington street. I walked 
out upon the street to see if I could 
meet any of the general managers, not 
to let them out, but to see if they could 
keep me in until President Coppage 
should get home. It was then near 9 
a.m. and not a cme of the office men 
had come and I made sure they had all 
gone with the silver wing, who claimed 
to have great strength, and I was left 
alone with my “gold bug ideas.” 

I called Co'l. John Morris, one of the 
General Managers, and for many years 
a well known conduotor on the Y. & 
M. V. Railroad. I saw him on the plat- 
foirm, but he paid no attention to me. 
I felt sure I could rely on him,, but in 
trouble who are our friends. But it 
turned out thougih, that he did not 
hear me. I heard a brass band playing 
and I made sure the silver men were 
coming, for they icjlways had a brass 
band to help them blow. I then sent 
Aunt Jennie Brown up to the Piazza 
Hotel to tell Col. Bill to get his stuffed 
club and come down and help me, that 
I was expecting some trouble with the 
silver wing of the company. But she 
returned to tell me that Col. Bill had 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 127 


gK)ne to Shreveport, La., to tony out the 
Hoiuston, East and West Texas Rail- 
road, that the Great Cape Horn route 
had got to Houston, Texas, the night 
hefoire, and he would not return for 
three or four days; that Gioneral Man- 
ager George L. McCormick, who I also 
wished to see, had gone with him. But 
Capt. L. C. Allen, the President of the 
Shreveport, South American and Cape 
Horn Railroad, was there and he would 
come down. Then I felt safe. The 
time drew near for the “Silver King^’ 
to put in his appearance, hut I was de- 
termined they should have no gold 
out of the banks. I then rang the 
telephione and asked the exchange to 
give me the Vicksburg Bank. 

Hello, said I, who is this? 

This is Gen. E. S. Butts, President 
of. the Vicksburg Bank. Who is this? 

I am Capt. Glover. 

Well, what is it Captain? 

I want to tell you that I am expecting 
every minute to be turned out of of- 
fice by the silver wing of the “Great 
Oriental Railroad.” President Coppage 
was at St. Petersburg this morning, so 
a message tells me. I regret I cannot 
talk to him, as our relays are not all 
in yet, and the wire will not work well 
beyond the Great Tunnel, I want to 
say to you, do not pay out any of the 
company’s “gold” reserve, except on 
my signature, which you know. 

Please say the same to the other 
banks; they are all near you. Our 
fighting man is out of the city, has 
gone down to Cape Horn tn inspect the 
new line, but I am expecting aid in 
short time. 

All right. Captain; you need not be 
uneasy; that is all noise; there are not 
10 per cent, of the stockholders silver 
men. I heard of the meeting, but did 
not think it of sufficient importance to 
tell you. 

Well, General, I am under many obli- 
gations to you. Your words give me 
courage; you know T am a stranger in 
the country as yet and cannot tell the 
exact strength of any movement. I 
do not wish the President to return, 
and find all that silver stripped off 
those 26,000 engines and all coined up 
at “16 to 1.” I wish to say, General, 


that these silver men are about to 
“arouse the lion” in me, and I will not 
stand only so much. 

Well, Captain, do not loose your tem- 
per. The man who loses his temper has 
more than half lost his case. I know 
it is very exasperating, but it will 
come out all right, mark my word. 

I will be in to see you in a few days 
on some personal business. 

All right Captain, I shall be pleased 
to see you at any time, that’s all, good 
by. 

I turned from the telephone and Cap- 
tain M. M. Robertson had walked in. 
The hour was 2 p.m. and he was the 
first man to come in. Said he had been 
a prisoner all morning. One of the 
silver men had him and it was some 
time before he could get him to let him 
go. But he would never go back on 
the management and was ready to do 
whatever I might wish. Just then 
Captain L. C. Allen, the president of the 
Great Cape Horn route, walked in. I 
then showed him the letter and re- 
quested his opinion of the same. He 
said that the whole thing had gone up 
in smoke, and the silver wing had all 
gone down to the river to soak their 
heads; that he had telegraphed Col. 
Bill, who was down taking a look at 
the Cape Horn, at the extremity of 
South America, and he was coming 
on a special; that Charlie Kenerdy, a 
well known engineer on the V. S. & 
P., had the train and was making 200 
miles an hour. He then rang the tele- 
and asked for the City of Mexico, and 
learned that the train had just left 
for Houston, Texas, and would be in 
Vicksburg by daylight, a distance of 
about two thousand miles; it also said 
Col. Bill was walking the floor of his 
car like a caged tiger and that the 
silver wing of the Great Oriental had 
best all be in their holes. I put my ear 
to the telephone and heard this and I 
know it to be true. The voice was a 
well known one to me and was that of 
Col. C. A. Bonds, of Monroe, La., and 
who is the general freight agent of the 
Great Oriental system. President Al- 
len talked with me on many things and 
about South and Central America and 
the growth of the commerce o'f the two 
countries since his great line had been 
completed to Shreveport, La. He said 


128 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS^CONTINENTAL R. R, 


that New Orleans wanted the line the 
worst kind and tried to keep the secre- 
tary of transportation, Hon. Newton C. 
Blanchard, from endorsing the scheme 
although it was to come through his 
old home. But there is no limit that 
men or cities will not go when their in- 
terests are involved. But the Hon. 
Flank 1*. Stubbs, Jr., who is congress- 
man from the 5th district of Louisiana 
had met every objection and the thing 
became not a myth but a reality, and is 
one of the important lines in this great 
s>stem. He then told me he was 
going to build a big hotel at the Horn 
so ah the tourists could see the “Phan- 
Lom ship” go by. 

I said I was quite surprised to learn 
of the purchase of a line by Col. Bill to 
complete the Great Cape Horn. I had 
been told he proposed to build himself 
an independent line— that was why Col. 
Coppage had advised me not to try to 
do any thing with my scheme, which 
was the only thing that had caused me 
to return to the United States; that 
my friend the Prince of Wales had off- 
ered to make me a king; but “uneasy 
rests the head that wears a crown.” 

President Allen replied that much 
work had 'to be done in the “Silver Lake 
Bottom,” a-locality well known in that 
city and about ten miles of embank- 
ment had been thrown up by a brigade 
of “Coxey’s Army” before the H'.^K. and 
W. T. Company would agree to take 
ten millions in “gold” for their proper- 
ty; that Col. Bill had closed the deal the 
day before in the parlor of the- “City 
Hotel,” and kept on down the line to 
see Cape Horn, a locality he had never 
visited before, but the colonel had 
money now and he was determined to 
see all of this world there was to see. 
He then gave rhe a very graphic dis- 
oription of the suspension bridge over 
the Nicaragua Canal and showed me 
pictures of the engine and trains cross- 
ing the Andes Mountains in South 
America. He said everything would be 
ready by the first day of September 
and he wished to see the president so 
as to make all arrangements. 

I replied that I was the president for 
a few days, and would treat with him, 
and the company would be bound by all 
my acts. Just then the porter came in 
handing me a note from M. O. Gorman, 


the great railroad builder, saying that 
one thousand of the Coxey army had 
arrived up in the woods, about two 
miles north of the city, and for me to go 
out and get the supplies for them, 
which I did. I armed myself with a 
bank check book and taking my gold- 
headed cane, which I always walked 
with I left the depot. 


CHAPTER XVII, 


But before I tell you here where I 
went and what toiok place and what 
I heard, I will put in some other things. 
The reader must here be told again that 
the Great Oriental Railroad is now com- 
pleted, and its hundreds of trains are 
daily crowded, carrying the inhabitants 
and the products of all the heathen and 
civilized world, and the matters here 
recorded were the incidents of the Cap- 
tain’s life, 'between the first of May 
or April, and sometime in September 
in the year this story begins, and as he 
stays while pursuing my duties as the 
Private Secretary of this, the greatest 
thing on wheels on earth, this Great 
Oriental Railway, and they are here 
given with the hope they will prove 
interesting as they all lead up to the 
time when in the city of New Orleans, 
the Captain give the final strokes in 
his business like manner, of which 
you have read, and because they show 
some of the wonders of this twentieth 
century in which you are now living, 
and because they come to his mind 
while thinking over the fright the silver 
owning gave him that day at the New 
Depot, it being the first time he had 
ever had on such big harness, but he 
trotted or raced all right and spent lots 
of money for his company, as you will 
see, and he made good time in old 
Vicksburg, as you shall see. I men- 
tioned a few minutes ago that I thought 
I heard what I took to be a brass band 
coming down the boulevard. But 


THE GREA T ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 129 


walkinig* about the depot I was sup- 
prised to find it was a largie handsome 
electrical piano, from the well known 
firm, “The Dunning-Medine Company, 
Liimited,” 214, 216 Camp street. New 
Orleans. This was for the entertain- 
ment of the passengers, and was free. 
All you had to do was to speak in a 
tube and ask for the air you wished, 
and turn the knob and you would get 
it. It played every tune that had been 
composed since the “Morning Stars 
first sang together,” including it also, 
and cost $20,000. When I asked Capt. 
Rc^bertson about the matter he then 
handed me a letter, dictated by the 
President, telling me to close a contract 
with J. W. Hopkins, the General Agent 
of this house in LfOuisiana, to put them 
in all our depots from New Orleans to 
Paris, France, and on all through pas- 
senger trains. There is nothing like 
music, which hath charms that will 
“sooth the savage breast.” That gen- 
tleman called in a few days and I olosed 
the deal with him, paying him over 
$200,000 in gold; so you see there was 
nothing short about us. J. W. Hop- 
kens is a typical drummer, a tall man, 
•with dark complexion, and black hair, 
and always pushes his business in a 
very pleasant matnner. These, With 
many other things I shall mention, 
makes the Great Oriental Railroad the 
most popular line as well as the largest 
line on earth. In passing through the 
polar regions the cars of course are 
all vestib’uled and are heated up to 
about 80 degrees; then there is a large 
supply of robes similar to those used 
by liieut. Greeley. The time though 
there does not exceed three days. I 
have explained that our line is an ele- 
vated one, and double track, from the 
border of Alaska to St. Petersburg, 
except through the “Great Tunnel.” 
This is to avoid any possibility of a 
collision, and as a great deal of the 
country is a barren waste, coveired ma- 
ny months of the year with ice, and 
snow, there is nothing for the trains to 
do but fiy, which they do, as you will 
see When you make the trip. Men can 

and have for months lived in the Artie 
regions — why not for three or four 
9 


days, and in most elegant cars, in the 
world, built especially for that purpose 
by the “Great Oriental Railroad Com- 
pany.” 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


You cannot allow many people to be 
aware tliat they are in any danger or 
they will become panic stricken. I 
made mention already that I closed a 
deal with J. W. Hopkins for a fine 
piano, to be placed in all of our ob- 
servation cars. Many people do not 
like music and you mlust not suppose 
passengers were compelled to listen to 
an eternal thumping of the piano by a 
performer who would set you crazy in 
ten minutes and cause you to araise in 
your seat and murder all the passen- 
gers while going through the wilds of 
Russian Siberia. The country is dreary 
enough without bad music, and you 
were not compelled to listen to the 
sounds unless you wished. The sounds 
were •carried forward by wires, there 
was a little valve in the panel of the 
car, near the window. Each passenger 
was provided with a full seat which 
was a great improvement over things 
in the colse of the 19th century. If 
you did not like music, all you had to 
do was to close the valve marked 
“piano” and open the one next and 
place Your ear near and you could 
hear on the phonograph anything you 
might wish — a prize fight, a sermon, a 
speech on woman’s rights, a curtain 
lecture, a speech in congress or rail- 
roading in a round house by a lot of 
employes on the Great Oriental rail- 
road. These were some of the con- 
tracts I closed while the president was 
away and they are now in all the cars 
between New Orleans and Paris. 
When the Colonel returned he said he 
feared such extravagance would never 
meet with the approval of congress. 


130 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


who had loaned us the money. I sug’- 
gested that there were many poor peo- 
ple who would travel on the Great Ori- 
ental and they would get something 
back for their money. They had paid 
for a good many casks of wine and 
champagne, to be drank by others in 
foreign lands. This was enough for 
the president and he approved the bill, 
at the same time saying he would not 
stir me up on the ambassador case— 
not for a million. I must here tell you 
of one of Col. Bill’s deals and what be- 
came of it. The Great Oriental was de- 
termined to please every one and clos- 
ed the contract with Edison to place 
one of his trumpets, used to produce 
the phonograph cylinders, in the tops 
of the cars. It had the appearance of 
only being a harmless ventilator and 
not all of the conductors were on to 
its purpose. Every word said by the 
passengers between New Orleans and 
St. Petersburg was recorded. At Paris 
these were taken out and sent to the 
president’s office at Vicksburg, where 
they were type written off and he 
could learn what the public thought of 
the way he ran the Great Oriental, and 
would you believe it; that in spite of 
luxury and comforts impossible to de- 
scribe in words, when these cylinders 
were taken out and the sayings of a 
great trip from Cape Horn in South 
America, to Bombay, India, spread out 
on paper, there were found people to 
complain and make suggestions. Men 
who could not run a peanut stand 
wanted to tell us all the time how to 
run our great railroad. The president 
used to be cross some time for an hour 
after he had read one of these books, 
as the boys used to call them and said 
one day it was impossible to please the 
human family and one half of them 
would not be satisfied if they had the 
earth. 

No said I, not even in Heaven itself. 
There are no baggage masters on the 
Great Oriental railroad to annoy the 
passengers or break up their baggage. 
This expense to all railroad companies 
had been overcome by invention, also 
Col. Hugh Wilkins, who you have not 
seen for a long time, because he has 
been traveling in Europe, and who is 
the vice-president of the Vicksburg and 
Canton railroad, had been an old bag- 


gageman himself and fully appreciating 
the hard lot they had on this earth, in- 
vented a system of legs, which were at- 
tached to each trunk, instead of brass 
checks, and when they reached the city, 
or the station, they got up and walked 
out. This was done because the bag- 
gageman had laid awake all night 
thinking and dreaming of the time 
when he would own his own railroad, 
and he had to sleep in the day time and 
could not find the stations; therefore iz 
became necessary to abolish his office. 
But I may as well here tell you that in 
reading off our cylindners we found 
that the people who complained the 
most were those who traveled on a free 
pass. But as useful as was our means 
of collecting information, we had to 
take them out, as they recorded all the 
sweet words the conductors said to the 
young ladies; for there were some yet 
who will listen to the words of love, as 
they have ever since this great world 
began rolling from the hands of its Cre- 
ator. It came about in this way. A 
lady came to our depot one day and 
was waiting for the train to go to Lon- 
don. She had heard of these wonder- 
ful cylinders and how they gave forth 
all the conversations, even the whist-* 
ling of the engine and the peculiar 
sounds when going through the “Great 
Tunnel” up in or under the Behring 
Strait; and she asked to hear it. Our 
Porter, Byron, placed it in the frame 
for her and she was very much amused 
for a while. But bye-and-bye she be- 
gan to hear her husband talking, and 
when he sealed a long conversation 
with a kiss, which she distinctly heard, 
and a promise to take her on a trip to 
Paris, for he was playing single on the 
girl, she fainted dead away. Aunt Jen- 
ie bathed her face, and she soon came 
to all right, for surprises never kill. 
This all took place on the Rocky Moun- 
tain Division on the Great Oriental 
Railroad, in the State of Wyoming, 
where ladies are supposed to turn a 
deaf ear to all the naughty men should 
say. But it broke the thing up, and 
when a committee waited on President 
Coppage, he promptly had them all 
plugged. I tell you they were great 
things, but they were bad on married 
men. ^ General Manager George L. 
Gurley said it was a good thing for that 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 131 


conductor, but was a proof of what the 
Scripture had to say, “be sure your sins 
will find you out.” But he also ap- 
proved of their removal. Col. Bill said 
that the conductors feared them more 
than they did the All Seeing- Eye. The 
president complained a little about 
what they had cost, but Col. Bill said 
he would stand the amount, as he had 
made the deal. After that every con- 
ductor on the road was afraid of every 
hole he saw in a wall, thinking there 
might be a phonograph behind it. 

Now you must not suppose the presi- 
dent permitted these phonographs to 
be put in his cars to spot his conduc- 
tors, a term well understood by all rail- 
road men, for nothing was more for- 
eign to his mind. All the conductors 
on the Great Oriental Railroad are an 
high-toned set of gentlemen, as have 
been all the conductors it has been the 
pleasure of the writer to know. His 
whole object was to learn whether, af- 
ter music and wine, and all the other 
things I have told you of, the passenger 
would want any thing else for his $100, 
which, is the fare from New Orleans to 
London, England. The fate of the 
conductor was unfortunate, but then 
that is life. When we are constantly in 
danger we soon forget all about it. I 
have had old soldiers tell me they be- 
came so familiar with death that they 
handle dead men like they would cord- 
wood. This man knew it was there, 
but he forgot all about it, and no one 
could blame him, for I was told the 
girl was as pretty as a dream and he 
wanted to show the ladies of Wyoming 
that they were no different from the 
ladies of other States, and a real hand- 
some conductor, with a pretty new un- 
iform, and a smooth tongue, was too 
much for all their fine resolutions. But 
you must know what took place that 
evening, that the free silver men had 
me up a tree, and I will admit a little 
bit frightened. About 4 p.m. I took 
my cane, and proceeded up the boule- 
vard. In every city where the popula- 
tion is three hundred thousand there 
will naturally be a g-ood many people 
upon her main thoroughfare, but since 
President Coppage had announced in 
the INew Orleans Picayune his inten- 
tion to build the great bridge and com- 
plete his contract with the govern- 


ment, to give the world a line of rail- 
road from the Cape Horn to the Cape of 
Good Hope via Vicksburg, Behring 
■Strait, London, Paris, 'St. Petersburg, 
and Madrid, Spain, and now this has 
been done, and he had also called the 
“'Coxey Army” to assemble, the crowd 
upon the streets beggars description. 
I was in London when Gladstone spoke, 
and sat by his side, and was in Chica- 
go on her day at the World’s Pair, but 
they did not compare with the day to 
which I refer. I saw a good many of 
the “Free Silver” men, but as they 
said nothing to me, I passed on. I sup- 
pose it was because I had in the noon 
edition of the Post a full account of 
the trouble I had with the London 
bankers, and I think they felt that a 
man who would draw his pistol on a 
lot of bankers would not hesitate to do 
so on poor men, and most of the to 1 
are poor men. I think that was why I 
was permitted to pass unn-.olested 
They knew it would not do to trouble 
Captain Glover. I stopped in a few 
minutes and saw J. D. Shlenker, the big 
wholesale grocery man, but he Tvas 
very busy. I placed a order 

with him, and passed on. When oppo- 
site the fifteen story building of the 
Delta Ttust and Banking Co. I saw 
Capt. P. M. Harding, the president of 
this bank and the cashier of the big 
cotton* mills, standing in the door. I 
had been introduced to him the night of 
the banquet. Then I was at the head 
of something big myself. I was a little 
dubious about approaching him, for 
circumstances often change the way 
men treat you, for prosperity makes 
friends and adversity proves them. But 
he caught my eye at the same time I did 
his and by the greeting he gave me you 
would not have supposed I had lost any 
ships at all. • 

Why Captain, said he, I am pleased to 
meet you again, and also to congratu- 
late the Grreat Oriental Railway on se- 
curing your valuable services. After 
the great loss you had sustained in that 
great storm near Gibralter I feared you 
would become discouraged and leave 
the country again — touching my loss 
with a gentle brush you see. I have a 
letter today from the Prince of Wales 
acknowledging the receipt of the box 
of clothing we shipped him and also 


132 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


making inquiry about you, at the same 
time passing me the letter to read. This 
was the first time I knew the Prince 
had any friends in the city. 

Captain, said he, cllow me to compli- 
ment you on that little speech at the 
barc.uet and at the same time ask in 
what school of oratory did you study, 
and are you not going to make an ad- 
dress at the opening of the Great 
Bridge? Well, Oapt. Harding, said I, 
I will tell you the truth. I used 
to have a bee in my hat about going to 
Congress, and I used to practice a lit- 
tle in the woods, near the city, and if I 
possess any ability in that direction, it 
is due to that fact, for practice makes 
perfect, in any and all things. But 
you do not seem to understand that my 
circumstances have changed s-ince last 
we met. I am only a poor employee 
on the Great Oriental Railroad, and of 
course we are not expected to attend 
the meeting of the boards of directors, 
or to occupy front seats on occasions of 
that character. I understand the Czar 
of all the Russians will be here, and the 
Infanta of Spain, the Prince of Wales 
and all the high muck a mucks of the 
world. I have already sent the invi- 
tations and the president will send a 
special for them. He has invited Ma- 
jor McKinley, of Ohio, the president of 
the United States, and should he dis- 
appoint us we will have ex-President 
Depew. At any rate you shall not hear 
from me. 

I am truly sorry, Capt. Glover, to 
hear this. I think a man who could 
make the speech you made to the Por- 
ter could tackle the bridge. Do you 
know that speech has gone all over 
this land and people consider you an 
eloquent man; and it is equal to any 
thing ever said by the great Prentiss? 

I am much obliged to you for your 
kind words. Captain. But you know 
the world has not changed much in the 
past twenty years, and it is not so 
much what is said as who says it. 

That is true. Captain, but I would 
be pleased to hear you on any subject, 
and I was speaking to our Major Ches- 
ter R. McFarland and said to him, it 
would be a capital idea to have you 
make us a speech at our waterways 
convention. You know we have 15 feet 


of water now, but we want 20. We fear 
the white squadron will get aground 
when she is ready to move out of the 
harbor. I am sure you would be equal 
to the occasion. 

I think I could go through with it, 
said I. I am as fine a digger with my 
mouth as you ever saw. But I fear I 
cannot be here after the bridge is com- 
plete. The president has promised to 
let me off for a few days and let me 
have his car and I am going to London. 
I know that there is something wrong 
about those ships of mine. I still have 
hope that all is not right about that 
matter. Many letters I have received 
lately make me think that I have some 
enemies. Those bankers may have 
something to do with my trouble. 

Captain, said he, we are going to have 
a banquet, we bankers. We would 
like you to attend. I hear you are a 
“gold bug,” and we would be pleased 
to hear you. I heard that you approved 
of the silver plating of all those 26,750 
engines now on the Great Oriental Rail- 
road. 

Yes, I did, said I. I think it was a 
very fortunate solution of the ques- 
tion, and Col. Coppage told me he felt 
very kindly to Col. I. Hardy for help- 
ing him out in the matter. He first 
suggested it to the system, when they 
wished to buy the Queen & Crescent 
Railroad, paying entirely in silver. I 
believe the amount received was the two 
billion, eight hundred million, that was 
recovered from the “Spanish Treasury.” 
Referring to your invitation to address 
the Bankers, I am in fine shape for that 
at present. I have not one dollar to 
day, I could call my own. I believe 
those who have no money are always 
considered the best authority; is that 
not true? 

Yes, Captain, that is in a large meas- 
ure true, but you come Changing the 
subject, where were you going? We 
had stepped just inside the Bank, while 
we were talking. 

I was on my way up to see Col. Sam 
C. Ragan to buy $75,000 worth of gro- 
ceries for the “Coxey Army” that are 
here in the city and going to rock our 
track from New Orleans* up to the bor- 
der of Alaska. From there on the line 
is an elevated one. I have closed the 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 133 


contract with Major John J. Mullig-an 
to lay the pipe from our big well on the 
Rocky ‘Mountains, and (bored by Col. 
Bob. Cox) to New Orleans, and to the 
City of Mexico, on the Great Cape Horn 
route, and he is to arrange openings 
at sufficient distance, and we will have 
the section men, so Col. Bill says, spray 
the track every night, so there will be 
no dust. The Great Oriental proposes 
to break up all the lines in this coun- 
try, if they do not come up to our way 
of doing business. But tell me, Captain 
Harding, has any of that gold reseiwe 
of the Great Oriental come to you in 
the last few day? 

Yes, Captain, we have received fifty 
millions in the last few days. I sup- 
pose I can thank you for this? 

You can, said I. But that was not 
my object in asking the question to 
have you feel under any obligations to 
me. In my correspondence with S. R. 
Berton, No. 2 Wall street. New York, 
I told him to be sure and send the 
“Delta Trust” a large slice of the 
amount. You know he has been placing 
our $200,000,000 of bonds, I want to add 
I may have to check on this amount 
and only wish to know if you pay gold? 

Oh! yes. Captain, we pay gold. 

With this I bid the gentleman good 
day, and went on, promising to make 
the Bankers a speech at the banquet. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


But I may as well tell you here I did 
not reach the store I was bound for that 
evening, I had to send for the proprie- 
tor to come to our office. At the corner 
of Crawford and Washington I met his 
honor, the Mayor, Chester R. McFar- 
land. This was the first time I had 
seen him since the night of the ban- 
quet. Since the disaster overtook me 
I never went often on the streets in the 
day. At night I would often go to the 
park on the Castle Hill or to the Na- 
tional Military Park, north of the city, 


where I would often see my friend, the 
manager of the cotton mills. Some- 
times I would go to the Opera House. 
But the President having gone, it be- 
came necessary for me to cast aside 
whatever false pride or fear I might 
have of meeting anyone who would 
not care to speak to me on account of 
my being no longer a rich man. The 
Mayor was also the president of the 
Belmont Club, and as their fifteen story 
building was on the corner opposite 
where we were standing, he insisted 
that I should go over with him, and 
partake of the hospitalities of the Club. 
I then pleaded business; but he insisted 
so that rather than appear rude I went. 
I was taken all over the building, from 
one floor to another. At last we came 
to their best room, on the tenth floor.. 

Captain said he. Col. Coppage was in 
to see me some days ago and 
was under the impression that we 
had put the Attorney-General O. 
S. Robbins, after him. But we 
had nothing to do with the mat- 
ter. I am truly glad that you are all 
going ahead with your great bridge and 
you will have everything ready to open 
the bridge on the 1st day of September. 
I hear that you have the road now all 
completed from Milliken’s Bend up to 
Hot Springs, Ark., and from that point 
on to Paris. In fact that part of the 
line has been done ten years. The last 
time I was in Paris I went that route. 
But what I was going to say was this: 
I think that trouble came from the 
“Boston Club” in New Orleans or the 
Development Club in Shreveport. They 
got their great Cape Horn part of the 
Oriental system and still they were not 
satisfied. 

Well, Captain Mack, said I, did you 
ever see any city, man or any party 
that was satisfied? That is a condition 
that does not exist on this sub-luminary 
and I am sure the president will appre- 
ciate this information and will no doubt 
join your club; and as you are at the 
head of a railroad, the City Electric, I 
will give you an annual over the sys- 
tem for one of yours. I shall have to 
make a good many trips up to the Na- 
tional Cemetery— a beautiful spot north 
of the city, where our great bridge is 

going up. We then exchanged passes. 


134 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


Of course I .g’ot the worst of it, as near- 
ly all big corporations do. He then in- 
vited me to try a little new wine, they 
had just got in. I was never much of a 
wine drinker, but it is the proper thing 
in a place of that kind to accept. I 
drank one small glass, and talked with 
him for a long time, telling him all 
about my life in India, and how I ran 
my railroad, and I propose to make the 
Great Oriental a success or I would 
break this government. I then told him 
I had fine pianos in the cars, and the 
trains that would arrive from New Or- 
leans that night and be transferred up 
the river and go on to Paris would all 
be fitted out like I have described. You 
must know we had the Y. & M. V. rail- 
road a long time before I closed the deal 
in New Orleans, of which you have 
read. The matter was in the hands of 
the board of directors of the Illinois 
Central and the great Queen and Cres- 
cent a long time before they would 
agree for their respective presidents al- 
ready mentioned to sell for them. The 
mayor and I set late and discussed 
every known subject, and when I told 
him I was president and had been for 
several days, he congratulated me and 
wondered why I had not put the same 
in the papers. I told him paper fame 
was the poorest kind of fame, and he 
then gave me some more of this won- 
derful wine. I (felt no effects of the 
same and went on to my room, for I 
was very much fatigued from the days’ 
work and mind trouble. But this wine 
told on me in a dream. I thought the 
United States had so long submitted to 
England’s gold bug ideas on money 
until she had become one of her colon- 
ies again; that the Prince of Wales had 
become the king of England and I had 
become the king of the United States; 
that the Washington monument was 
now called the Cornwallis; that all the 
monuments erected to the memory of 
those who had added to the glory of our 
country had been thrown down and 
their sites sown with salt; that all the 
railroads in the Union belonged to the 
Great Oriental system, and that I was 
general manager over them all; that 
I had old ex-President Cleveland in a 
car going all over the country and was 

compelling all the “free silver’’ men to 


bow down to him; that I had become 
separated from President Coppage for 
a long time and that some of his gold 
employees hearing that he did not like 
that the government made him silver 
plate his 26,750 engines had carried him 
off and had him working on a section 
for 90 cents per day. I could see him at 
a great distance and the sweat was 
rolling from his honest brow and Col. 
Bill had a big engine with a golden 
throne and used to ride by him and 
would not speak to him. The president 
was holding out his hands to me and 
crying with a loud voice, ‘Captain Glov- 
er come to me, for mercy sake. I be- 
lieved you were my friend and could be 
trusted with my railroad. 

I am your friend, said I in a loud 
voice, that awoke all the people in The 
Carroll. I rubbed my eyes, and it was 
only a dream, and this is still a gov- 
ernment of the people, for the people 
and by the people and its blood and 
Treasury have not been spent in vain. 
But that’ is horrible, said I. I will have 
to tell the Mayor he will kill all his 
members if he uses that stuff. I met 
him a few days afterwards, and smil- 
ing he asked me how I liked the wine. 
When I told him of the dream and how 
much it distressed me, and I was fear- 
ful some trouble was going to befall the 
President, he said no he guessed not; 
but Captain, I must put you on to that, 
Col. Jeff B. Snyder, of New Orleans, 
and who is a member of the “Boston 
Club,’’ learned about this wine while 
he was in Europe, at his summer resi- 
dence, on the Rhine. But we never 
drink any of it ourselves. We take a 
little of it home to our wives, with an 
oyster loaf, and she dreams we come 
home at. 6 o’clock, and it also affects 
her vision, and when she comes to the 
club room, she thinks the card tables 
are all pulpits. Great wine! great wine! 
Captain, said he. Women think they 
know it all, but we will fix them. 

Captain McFarland, said I, please give 
me the address of the firm selling this 
wine, in New Orleans, and I will get 
a couple of barrels for those new wo- 
men who are running trains, on the 
Great Oriental Railroad, and I hope 
they will dream that they ought to 
give up those positions and marry some 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 135 


good man who would be able to get a 
good salary. Many of them are filling 
places at $25 per month, that he would 
get $75 for and take care of them. Try 
W. E. Beck. 


CHAPTER XX. 


But, I may as well tell you here that 
those lady conductors on the Great 
Oriental Railway did not last long. 
When the road began running through 
to New Orleans at the meeting point 
the conductors always had to chat a 
few minutes, but it was only a few. 
Most of their conversation was about 
when the Governor (meaning the Pres- 
ident) would be up. It only took a mo- 
ment to ask, and answer, and they were 
gone, but when these lady conductors 
met one night at 12 p.m. they had to 
tell the other about those lovely bloom- 
ers, which had just come to Vicksburg 
and the darling gentlemen’s hats; that 
could be had in New Orleans. They 
talked thirty minutes. When they give 
the engineer the signal to go there were 
hundreds of trains on the road; and 
one was required to have his wits about 
him to keep out of each other’s way. 
These two conductors had lost their 
right to the track, and should have 
gone on the side track, but they made 
up their minds they could get there in 
spite of rules of society or the company. 
They told the engineers they must make 
it. When they had gone a few miles 
from where they had met and talked 
of those darling bloomers, here comes 
the lightning express train, the one com- 
ing from St. Petersburg and crashing 
into the train the cars were piled up 
in an indescribable mass. A short dis- 
tance from there the train going south 
met the other girl. She met the light- 
ning express from New Orleans to St. 
Petersburg, going north, and when they 
struck it would be impossible to tell 
you the results, one of the worst wrecks 


that ever took place in this country. 
Sixty of the finest cars the company 
owned, and four fine silver plated en- 
gines were jammed together, and it 
will always be a miracle why no one 
was killed. The St. Petersburg express 
runs at a high rate of speed about 125 
miles an hour. There were a great 
many tall silver men on these trains. 
They were six feet high before the col- 
lision, and were only three forever after 
that. It took three days to clear the 
track, and cast the Great Oriental Rail- 
road about three millions. I shall ne- 
ver forget the morning the President 
received the news. I was in the depot 
when the message come, but it was no 
need to disturb him. 

Captain, said he, I fear all is lost. I 
have been advised to take these girls 
off the road, as they were losing so 
much time at the stations refusing pro- 
posals to marry. I wish they had have 
taken them. 

Col. Coppage, said I, my motto is 
“never say die.” These girls are the 
disciples of Mrs. Belva Lockwood and 
are on the road in conformity to the 
law of the States where this wreck took 
place; on the Rocky Mountain division, 
between the Yellow Stone Park and the 
Spokane Palls, in the State of 
Wyoming and right near the famous 
well of Col. Bob Cox, of Monroe, La., 
a description of which I have given 
you. The young ladies came to see the 
president at Vicksburg, but this time 
they did not want to fight. I was a 
good talker and I plead their case be- 
fore the president, and also before the 
secretary of transportation. Judge A. 
H. Leonard, in New Orleans. Miss 
Pauline Trilby Goosenheimer, the one 
most at fault, was a charming girl, in 
fact one of the handsomest in .the 
Union, and rich in the bargain. I ad- 
vised her to dress in her most attrac- 
tive style and to bring a few onions 
along so she could cry at the right time; 
for she had worn bloomers so long she 
had lost all the womanly traits, but her 
form and face were still lovely. But it 
was no go. The secretary ordered her 
discharged and called the hands of all 
the other lady conductors and con- 
demned them to get married and sew 
on buttons. I was sorry for them, but 


136 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R, 


you see we were under the general gov- 
ernment until we could pay up our 
bonds. What annoyed the president 
most was the loss of over 60 fine carS; 
some of them having the best phono- 
graphs in them — that is they contained 
the best curtain lectures and were ta- 
ken from life, at great expense, and 
many ladies were traveling to grow 
proficient in this art. The reader un- 
derstands, he is reading true history, 
as it occurred and was copied from the 
Captain’s notes. 

I mentioned that I appeared before 
the commissioners and the secertary 
of transportation in New Orleans. Who 
they were, what was the extent of their 
power and how and from whom I first 
heard of them after my return to the 
United States will be told in another 
part. Here I will name the present 
ones: Amos J. Cummings, of New 
York, Wm. J. Bryan, the silver tongued 
orator of Nebraska, Col. Walter Mc- 
Laurin, of Mississippi, and Capt. E. H. 
Randolph, of Shreveport, La. The latter 
gentleman gave peace to the Hawaiian 
Islands and freedom to Cuba, when he 
was commissioned to do so. I am no 
lawyer, but under the law I could ap- 
pear as the officer of the company. I 
told the president if they succeeded in 
convicting them, we would have to pay 
all the claims, amounting in all to 
about $5,000,000. He said he feared I 
would not be able to win the case, as 
he understood one of the most elo- 
quent men in the country was to ap- 
pear for the government. This was no 
other than Dr. Chauncey M. Depew. 
ex-president of the United States. 

I do not care, said I, what I am going 
to do is in the defense of women, a 
theme as boundless as the blue sky 
above us. 

You know, Captain, said the presi- 
dent, my heart is always in the right 
place for those who are in trouble, es- 
pecially if their daily bread is con- 
cerned. I am very sorry for Miss Pau- 
line and her cousin, and am willing, if 
they wish, to allow them to remain in 
the service of the company. Two of the 
general managers of the road are crazy 
about them, and they could take posi- 
tions in their office for a while, where 
they could court them all day, but they 


do not need it. Their fathers are rich 
men and the girls just went on the 
road because they want to do every- 
thing men do. Our line goes through 
their fathers’ land and I had to prom- 
ise him I would make them conductors 
before he would let me lay a tie. I am 
sorry I ever agreed to it, and I fear all 
is lost. But, of course I cannot afford 
'to establish a precedent like that on the 
Great Oriental railroad, to allow con- 
ductors, who have had such terrible 
collisions as this, to run trains again. 
There is no excuse for it, and I think 
it will cost us at least $10,000,000; biit 
you may try, if you wish. 

All right, said I. I know her father 
is a rich man, and he has promised our 
General Freight Agent, J. W. McWil- 
liams, that we should haul all the ore 
from his gold mine in Alaska to Vicks- 
burg and New Orleans, to be crushed 
and washed and coined up at the mint 
on Ohio street. In fact this may be 
termed a collision between “silver and 
gold,’’ with silver men jammed down. 
Then I may proceed in my own way? 

You may, said he. But you do not 
seem to remember that this girl slapped 
your face. 

I do not care, said I; but say here, 
with all the men, God bless the women. 
Whatever they do, we will love them 
and forgive them. I will here tell you 
how I proceeded. 

I wrote her father at Denver, Col., 
enclosing passes over our line, and told 
him to take her to New Orleans, and 
have her go to the best dressmaker in 
that city, and have her fitted out in one 
of those handsome street costumes of 
the nineteenth century before bloomers 
made there appearance. People talk 
about “Trilby’’ and her pretty feet. 
Her father offered $10,000 to any lady 
in the United States that could wear 
her slippers, and she was no midget. 
She was tall and graceful, had coal 
black hair and black eyes, that flash- 
ed like the diamonds in her ears, and a 
smile that would run the crustiest old 
batchelor in the land wild and make 
him follow her like he was a lamb, and 
she tipped the scales at 130 pounds. I 
told him to let her walk the streets and 
let the single young men see her. New 
Orleans has always had some of the 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 137 


prettiest women in the world and a girl 
to attract much attention in that city 
must be a beauty, and she was, and she 
drew a crowd, as you shall see. 

Three days before her case was call- 
ed the President and myself left for 
New Orleans, and when I met her and 
her father in the best parlor in the St. 
Charles Hotel, where 1 made the big 
deal you have already read of, I would 
have wagered the whole Great Oriental 
Railroad that she was the prettiest wo- 
men in the world. She began to weep 
when she saw me again, and wanted 
to refer to the trouble we had in The 
Carroll Hotel many months before. 
But I bid her not to refer to it. What 
alarmed her so was the great crowd 
that followed her when she appeared 
upon the streets. I explained to her 
that it was because she was so sweet 
and pretty. 

Oh, Captain, said she, I did not know 
you ever grew sentimental. 

Oh, yes, said I; I do some times. Old 
fools. Miss Pauline, said I, are the worst 
of fools. There were also the five 
others who were with her when she 
slapped me, and they seemed too enjoy 
the change very much. They were all 
elegantly dressed, as ladies should be; 
not a bloomer in sight, and had I not 
been a man over 50 years, and passed 
the time when a man of my age would 
want to marry a girl of 21, for that Was 
her age, I would have taken her, then 
and there, and have braved the whole 
“United States with its army and navy. 
I had told her something about onions, 
but when she cast aside those horrid 
bloomers, all the lovely traits which 
have distinguished God’s greatest and 
best gift to man — a lovely woman- 
returned to her. I had tried to secure 
the services of Gov. Pat. Henry, of 
Mississippi, to assist me; but that day 
he was walking beneatli the sunny sky 
of Italy. Col. Walter McLaurin was 
with him and wrote us he was fearful 
he could not give the young lady a 
fair trial, as her father had several 
gold mines. Now the law provided that 
in the event any one of the commission- 
ers could not sit in any case for cause, 
then the Secretary should select some 
other. Judge Leonard asked us if we 
had any objection to Judge Newton 


C. Blanchard, who had been Secretary 
of Transportation, and who had drawn 
the law creating this department of this 
government. I told him no; he was for 
both gold, and silver and so was I, and 
we took him. This gentleman had done 
all he could to promote the, 'Great 
Oriental, that was the South American 
prong, known to you as the Great 
Cape Horn route. I had not been in 
the city but a few hours before it was 
apparent to me that no court house in 
the world would hold the crowd that 
would gather to hear this great trial 
between “gold and silver,” but, on Canal 
street, where Fitzsimmons slugged 
Hall, stands today a large building on 
the style of the “Morman Temple” — 
that is to say, it is round. This is the 
Great Electrical Music Hall and it has 
a seating capacity of 75,000, and this 
was secured. At last the great day 
come. For forty years the women have 
been encroaching upon the men; they 
are wearing our hats, shirts and pants, 
called bloomers, and when the sun rose 
upon that great city with its three mil- 
lions of people and many domes and 
spires, over 200,000 married men found 
themselves chained to the bedpost, and 
similar reports came in from every city, 
town and hamlet. Miss Pauline Trilby 
Goosenheimer had not only become the 
heroine of the Great Oriental Railroad, 
but of the Union. But the supreme mo- 
ment had arrived when the Men’s 
Rights Club should assert themselves, 
and these married men proceeded to file 
off those chains locked on by Miss Susan 
B., Mrs. Cat and Mrs. Mary Ellen 
Lease, and they were determined they 
would attend this trial, even if they 
should fall in love with Miss Trilby, the 
female conductor of the Great Oriental 
Railway. 

At daylight the crowd began to as- 
semble and when at the hour of 10 a.m. 
on that ever memorable day the United 
States Marshall, Capt. James M. Mar- 
tin, oif Shreveport, called the court to 
order, and the secretary and his assis- 
tants filed in and took their seats, not 
less than 100,000 eyes looked upon the 
defendants. I weakened only for a mo- 
ment when I saw for the first time in 
my life, ex-President Chauncey M. De- 
pew. I could understand why he was 


138 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


there, for the Great Oriental and the 
Great Queen and Orescent were pulling 
the business from the New York Cen- 
tral and Hudson River railroad and the 
ships in the great harbor of New York 
city were rotting down and were all for 
sale for old junk. People are now going 
to Europe over the Great Oriental, 
whose trains are daily crowded with 
their human freight and are carrying 
the products of all the heathen and 
civilized world. My fears were in- 
creased when he arose and announced 
that Judge Hornblower of New York, 
and the new Attorney General, Capt. 
A. M. Lea of Mississippi, would prose- 
cute on behalf of the government. The 
president. Col. Coppage, then introduc- 
ed me to these gentlemen by my name 
of course, Capt. Glover and his private 
secretary, and as the man who would 
represent the railroad company. 

Call the case said the secretary, and 
to my amazement arose Prof. C. P. 
Kemper, of Vicksburg, and a single 
man. He is a tall and handsome man 
and reads well. This position is one of 
the best in the gift of the government, 
and pays $5,000 a year. He wiped the 
tear that had gathered in his eye, for I 
think he was mashed on Miss Trilby 
himself, and read the charge. The 
Transportation Department of the Uni- 
ted States of America vs. Miss Pauline 
Trilby Goosenheimer and Pheaby Sub- 
ena Pickle, wearing and discussing 
bloomers at the hour of midnight and 
thereby causing a wreck between the 
lightning express from St. Petersburg, 
Russia, and the chain lightning express 
from New Orleans, La. 

The reading of the indictment took 
one hour, closing with the usual form 
against the peace and dignity of the 
government.- Just then some of those 
tall and handsome silver men, who 
were on this train were set upon a ta- 
ble. They were six footers before this 
wreck; now they were only two and 
three, and the little ladies looked like 
Miss Lilie Rose, the prettiest middget 
in the world. I iwas satisfied their hus- 
bands still lo-ved them, for most men 
love little women, at least the writer 
does. It gives me pain to record this 
act, because it was done by this great 
government to prejudice the case of the 
Great Oriental Railroad Company. 


Stand forth, said the judge, and plead 
to the indictment, when two of the 
prettiest women this world has ever 
seen, stepped up. The applause that 
greeted their words, given between 
sobs, “not guilty,” shook the building, 
when not less than 20,000 men sprang 
forward to release them. 

Gentlemen, said Judge Leonard, this 
is a land of law and order, and the law 
must take its time and its course. 

But this act had satisfied me that the 
crowd was with the railroad for one 
time. I saw a frown settle upon the 
face of the attorney general and felt 
that he was going tO' make a determin- 
ed effort to convict them. We agreed 
to try them jointly, not that time is any 
thing to lawyers; they are not running 
on a time card. I would like to here 
describe Miss Pickle but will only say 
she was first cousin to Miss Pauline 
Trilby and was almost her counterpart, 
being tall and graceful with a thick 
suit of light hair that fell below her 
waist, and she had the sweetest smile 
and voice I ever listened to, so you see 
there is nothing in a name. Though her 
name was Pickle, she was as pretty as 
a peach, and as sweet as honey, but had 
been spoiled by living in Wyoming. 
They were both dressed in light dresses 
it being pleasant weather and the ma- 
terial was donated by the manage- 
ment of the Vicksburg, Monroe and 
Shreveport cotton mills, and was the 
best advertisement they ever had. 

General Manager Gurley came up to 
me and said I had best have some help, 
and then introduced me to Hon. Mur- 
phy J. Poster, twice Governor of Lou- 
isiana; also to Hon. Milton C. Blstner, 
United States Senator from Louisiana, 
as the government had three good men. 
I looked about me and there I saw Col. 
Charles J. Boatner, of Louisiana, many 
years a member of Congress from the 
fifth Louisiana district, and Secretary 
of the Navy under President W. R. 
Morrison, of Illinois. I felt then that 
we would never loose the case with this 
array of eloquence and talent. 

Col. Coppage, the president of the 
Great Oriental Railroad, was the first 
witness and by him they proved these 
girls were conductors. He tried to ex- 
cuse the matter by showing the law of 
the State of Wyoming, and that law 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 139 


said women should not only run their 
homes and husbands but the govern- 
ment as well. 

Col. Bill was introduced to prove 
damages to the track. He swore he 
never knew anything about a track, al- 
though he was a roadmaster for many 
years and he said he had always been 
a gold bug and a retired capitalist. He 
was a bad witness for the silver men. 

J. J. Curtin and Charles Blank, the 
master car builders, were then sworn 
and testified the damages to rolling 
stock would reach $800,000. 

D. H. Holmes, the big dry goods man, 
testified the young ladies bought their 
bloomers from him, having come to the 
city over the Great Oriental on some 
one of their hundred of trains, and put 
them on in the store in the ladies’ par- 
lor and walked out. 

Jim Talmadge, engineer on the St. 
Petersburg express, was then put on 
the stand. He said he saw the electric 
headlight for a long ways and suppos- 
ed they were in the side track. He was 
running, he thought, about 100 miles an 
hour, but as he saw the train was mov- 
ing toward him he shut her oft and re- 
versed her, and he and his fireman 
leaped for life. He thought his train 
was going about seventy-five miles 
an hour when they collided. 

And thus for six long days. Judge Al- 
bert M. Lea, the attorney general and 
the great New York lawyer, packed in 
the facts on us. The court then ad- 
journed until Monday morning. 

Col. Boatner opened for the Great 
Oriental: May it please your Honor, 
said he, this company has in this build- 
ing as near as I can estimate 109,000 
witnesses. To examine them all would 
take as long as it will be before a 
Populite or a free silver man is pres- 
ident of the United States, so I will 
save time and examine them all at 
once; and turning to the great crowd 
he asked if they thought any thing 
should be done with the two lovely 
young girls whose gold train had 
knocked down the silver men. 

No! No! came from every voice. 

We thought to end the case right 
there, gentlemen of the Great Oriental 
Railway, said the secretary, the people 
of this country will scarcely be sat- 
isfied with that kind of questioning of 


witnesses. If you have any other wit- 
nesses, you must put them on the 
stand. This court has no special inter- 
est in this case; what we wish is the 
facts in this case. 

But, said Col. Boatner, the people 
must at last decide this case and this 
immense throng gathered about us are 
the people. 

That is true, said the secretary, but 
bring on your witnesses. 

We had expected this and were not 
lacking in proof. We put some of the 
best men in this country on the stand, 
including ex-President Cleveland, and 
by them all we proved that these tall 
silver men, who had been jammed down 
in this wreck were not hurt half so bad 
as they would like to have us believe. 
So for one week more we submitted ev- 
idence that made me believe that the 
company would not have to pay out one 
dollar. On the third Monday of the 
trial, the distinguished lawyer from 
New York opened the case. All the 
counsel for the government made fine 
speechs, including Senator David B. 
Hill, who also appeared in the case the 
third day after it began. There is no 
need to give them here. They were 
taken down by Miss Lena Ehlbert, a 
charming young lady of Vicksburg, and 
published in all the papers in this coun- 
try and Europe. No case in the his- 
tory of this government ever attracted 
so much attention. The Holmes and 
Durant cases were not a circumstance, 
not even the celebrated case of Miss 
Pollard vs. Breckinridge. In the trial 
of all cases in the transportation de- 
partment the defendants are given the 
closing argument. This was because 
if eloquence has any effect the govern- 
ment did not want it. All they wished 
was the law and the evidence. By an 
agreement between the lawyers for the 
Great Oriental company, I was to close 
the case. 

On the morning of the 17th day of 
the trial I arose from my seat and in a 
strong voice said: “May it please this 
Court.” Instantly one hundred thou- 
sand eyes were turned upon me. I can- 
not say I did not take some personal 
pride in that moment, for in that surg- 
ing sea of humanity you could have 
heard the proverbial pin drop. Prom 
the condition of a man who was fear- 


140 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


ful I would be thrown from the hotel 
top because I could not pay my bill, I 
had come to the point where I stood 
up to contend with the giants of this 
nation. It is here necessary for me to 
again say to the young man who may 
read this, get knowledge, for knowledge 
is power. I had formulated a scheme 
in my mind; and that was to talk to 
the court until they should fall insen- 
sible upon their seats, when I would 
have one of the general managers on 
the Oriental, who was in love with Miss 
Trilby, seize her, and fly with her to 
some enchanted castle where the good 
wishes of his many friends would fol- 
low him. We had talked the matter 
over and had the engine and car all 
ready. But it was no go. The more I 
talked the more interested they seem- 
ed to be; and after a speech of eight 
hours and the surging crotwd shaking 
the building as every twenty or thirty 
minutes I would round up those free 
silver men who had lost their legs in 
the collision with two girls whose 
fathers had gold mines, and were there- 
fore only three feet high. Judge Blan- 
chard, though a silver m^n himself, 
could not help but laugh when I would 
give them a little twist. I found out 
afterwards the mistake I made was In 
not having them all alone, and had 
those 75,00 men, many of whom were in 
love with Miss Trilby, sent home. 
There were 25,00 ladies present, mostly 
married ones. The young ladies were 
very jealous and mad because their 
beaux had been sending the accustomed 
flowers and candy to these two female 
conductors. Men are fools, but as *I 
flrmly believe you can never keep the 
men from where the women are, un- 
less you build it all over again, I let 
them stay to hear what I had to say. 
I will not give my speech in full, but 
Captain M. M. Robertson, who was 
there, handed me this and said it was 
what I closed up on them with after 
I had knocked the free silver men 
down: 

May it please your Honors — my dis- 
tinguished friend. Judge Hornblofwer. 
has thought it necessary to- refer to the 
rule of the railroad Co. The judge is 
a good lawyer, but he is not a railroad 
man. All he knows about a railroad is 
traveling on a pass and collecting a 


good fee from them. I am a railroad 
man and I know all about one, from an 
air brake up to drarwing the salary as 
a general manager. What are the rules 
of the railroad company? Are they 
any better than the laws of our land, 
that are broken every day? 

A time card is made to run, by and if 
you are delayed you are expected, as 
an engineman, to make it up. The time 
from this city. New Orleans, to Paris, 
on one of our fast trains, the St. Peters- 
burg flying express, the one that struck 
Miss Pauline Trilby Goosenheimer, is 
115 hours. If by any means the train 
should be delayed, the leaving time for 
the first train being six o’clock; and 
the time should be to go to the great 
tunnel in the Behring strait is 1 p.m., 
you would be expected to make it be- 
fore sundown. So much for the rules 
which the Judge knows nothing of. 
This indictment, if it may be called 
such, said I, picking it up, charges 
these young ladies with stopping their 
trains at the hour of midnight between 
the Yellow Stone Park and Spokane 
Falls to discuss bloomers and thereby 
caused the wreck to the free silver men. 
But if your Honors please, the ingenu- 
ity of all the counsel for this govern- 
ment fails to prove it; and while they 
were not compelled to give evidence 
against themselves, they have told their 
story. They had received three propo- 
sals of marriage. One came from a 
Duke, who was only after their pretty 
forms and faces and their fathers’ gold 
mines, and who after thirty days would 
leave them to amuse themselves in 
their own way. The others came from 
poor passenger conductors on the Great 
Oriental railway, whose salaries are 
only $150 per month, and the third from 
two general managers, whose salaries 
are all $10,000 and over. This, with the 
gold mines of their fathers, would be 
sufficient to satisfy any one but an am- 
bassador to France. In this practical 
age, when money is weighed against 
everything — honor, virtue and intelli- 
gence — when all bow down to the golden 
calf, which now has two legs instead of 
four — are these young ladies not to be 
admired, when it is taken in considera- 
tion that they only took thirty minutes 
to decide that they would take the gen- 
eral managers, with the $10,000 thrown 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 141 


in. When they gave the engineers the 
“high ball” to go, this shows what this 
poison has been doing. But, Sirs; the 
time they took shows that all is not yet 
lost in them. But there Is no romance 
in the hearts of these fair defendants 
and they are not willing to take the 
job of trying love in a cottage. This of 
course, is hard on those poor young 
men who have day by day, since the 
trial began, crowded around the rail- 
ing in the hope they would be able to 
capture two of the prettiest girls in the 
world, fair like the famous “Helen of 
Troy,” with gold mines thrown in. 
But whoever gets them will in all prob- 
ability find them girls of strong and 
practical minds and will never come 
home and And them pouring over some 
imaginary Romeo and trying to write 
a novel. They are too practical for 
that. But in the wearing of bloomers 
and trying to become passenger con- 
ductors, they were more to be pitied 
than condemned. It was nothing but 
the false teaching of Miss Susan B. and 
Mrs. Cat., and the whole host of short 
haired women female suffrage brigade 
who have lobbyed congress with their 
nonsense, where henpecked husbands 
listened. But if your Honor please, the 
worst they will be called on to endure 
is this: If this case should go against 
them, in spite of all the teachings of 
the past forty years, they must go out 
from this great temple, convicted of 
having failed in a business where men 
have made a successs. That is to say. 
as railroad conductors, entrusted day 
by day, and year by year, with the 
property of the company and the lives 
of the passengers. Consider well what 
you are about to do. In this progressive 
age of reforms, when many are ready 
to prescribe what we shall eat and 
what we shall drink, that we shall be- 
lieve, who of us can tell, when we are 
laid beneath the sod, but that some fe- 
male member of our family may not yet 
be prosecuted for wearing bloomers 

At this point the two girls began to 
weep violently. “Yet such oh Rome, 
may one day be thy fate,” said Scipio 
as he wept over the burning Carthage. 

The disposition which has grown up 
all over this country before the Great 
Oriental was built, to press down the 
wages of the husbands, the fathers, 


and sons, and brothers, the natural head 
of the family, has driven the women 
out to try to make a living. It may 
be true in these cases that they do not 
need it, but, sirs, this seems to be a 
disease, and cannot be called strange, 
that it should have come in, to this fam- 
ily where there is gold. Its nothing 
but that greed born of ostentation and 
given sail by men who claim they were 
starving to death on $17,600 a year. 
But, sirs, the time has come when we 
hope justice shall be done, both to the 
Great Oriental Railway and there fair, 
but frail conductors. One other point, 
your Honor, and I am done. A lot of 
little men have been paraded before 
this court to try to prejudice this case. 
These men were tall silver men, and 
were, I am told, six feet high before 
this collision took place between gold 
bug lady conductors; now they are two 
and three. They were always little 
men, and I may as well say to them 
here, in the presence of these one hun- 
dred thousand people, now looking at 
me, that this Great Oriental Railway 
Company will give them nothing, it 
matters not how this case may be de- 
cided. As for these two fair young 
girls, who smile and love have always 
been man’s greatest stay, they cannot 
hope for justice, neither from their own 
sex, who will gossip about them, nor 
from men, who betray them. But there 
is one place where we are taught to 
believe that justice will be done, and 
when the Great White throne and the 
New Jerusalem shall descend from 
Heaven and the bright sun shall reflect 
its dazzling light on the resurrected 
ashes of departed saints, then shall jus- 
tice be done, and the brightest diadems 
that shall adorn the brow of Angels 
will encircle the brow of women, the 
first at our cradles and the last at our 
graves. 

When I fired that last shot through 
the great dome 300 feet above me, I 
heard her crack. Whenever I took 
much interest in a matter I always 
spoke with much feeling and passion. 
I was interested in this case as much 
as I ever was in anything in my life. 
So when I had finished my speech no 
man in his life ever saw as much tu- 
mult and applause as greeted my clos- 
ing words. When I turned from the 


142 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


table before which I had stood, the first 
to clasp my hand was the President, 
who had then become satisfied we had 
won the case, and those tall silver men, 
who were on this train \Where they were 
run into by the girls whose fathers own- 
ed gold mines, would never get a dime 
from us, and we would throw all their 
claims in the stove. The Secretary of 
Transportation, Judge Leonard, an- 
nounced the court would stand ad- 
journed for thirty days, when an opin- 
ion would be given. Then the great 
throng melted away and thus closed 
the first act in one of the most excit- 
ing trials which has ever occured in 
this country. At 6 o’clock the Presi- 
dent and myself left the city, and in 
two hours we were at our homes in 
Vicksburg, the distance being 235 miles. 


CHAPTER XXI. 


During the interval, things were ex- 
citing in New Orleans. The young la- 
dies, Miss- Pauline Trilby and Miss 
Pheaby Subena, were quartered at the 
St. Charles Hotel, where they received 
and rejected proposal.^ to get married 
at the rate of twenty thousand a day 
The whole country was racked for 
flowers to be sent to them, which their 
maids received at the front door, and 
they threw out the windows on Gra- 
vier and Common streets, until the peo- 
ple walked through flowers up to their 
knees. They started two poor young 
men in the candy business with the can- 
dy and chewing gum they received, and 
they grew rich in a month selling it at 
half price. When I heard of it I made 
up my mind that men will always be 
fools, where pretty women are con- 
cerned, and Miss Trilby and her cousin 
were the prettiest in the world and 
were rich with it; but did not make it 
running as conductors on the Great 
Oriental Railroad. 

The Editoress of the woman “Suf- 
frage Journal” feeling that two of the 
brightest stars in their ranks were 


about to desert them and had done so 
in part by discarding their bloomers, 
lit into the railroad company, and me 
in particular. iShe took up that theoret- 
rical part of my speech, and said she 
begged to inform Capt. Glover that wo- 
men did not give the snap of their fin- 
gers for his crowns and diadems. What 
they propose to do was to take his 
pants, and bloomers were the first step 
to that end. While we were in New 
Orleans General Manager Geo. L. Mc- 
Cormick received a letter from the two 
conductors who had proposed to these 
two female conductors, asking him to 
change their runs from Spokane Falls 
to the Great Tunnel, to between Hot 
Springs and New Orleans. This gentle- 
man was always a good friend to the 
conductors on the Great Oriental, so 
he sent two men to relieve them. As 
this will show to what extent men will 
go when love and money are concerned, 
I will tell it to you, there were one of 
the General Managers on this line, who 
was in love with Miss Pauline Trilby, 
and coming into the oflice he saw this 
letter, and he deliberately stole it out, 
and going to his own office he wrote 
a letter to these two young conductors, 
who were in his way, and sent it by the 
two men, who were to take their runs, 
and in this letter he directed them to 
go on the first train to Gibralter and 
cross the Mediteranean Sea, and take 
the train there again, and go to Moro- 
via Liberia, and take a run to the 
Cape of Good Hope, where we had 
just completed our lines, and where 
there were no ticket offices, hoping by 
appealing to their presumedly dishon- 
esty to get them out of the country. So 
that they could court and marry the 
girl conductors. This was not the first 
time poor, but honest young men have 
been in big men’s way in a love af- 
fair. The young men had just received 
the letter of General Manager McCor- 
mick, telling them their request would 
be granted when the two conductors 
arrived the next day. They had time 
to try to sleep over the matter, but the 
“air castles” that floated before them, 
when they would be in the city of New 
Orleans walking on Canal street, one of 
the finest streets of any city of the 
world, and how people would- look at 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 143 


them, as the prospective female con- 
ductors’ husbands, kept them awake, 
for the girls had written to them also, 
expressing the wish that they could, 
or would come down and help them 
throw away the bouquets they were 
receiving from over 50,000 young men in 
New Orleans and all over the county. 
This liked to set them crazy, and if 
there had been no railroad to bring 
them, as there now is, they would have 
been tempted to commenced to walk 
it, for a man is a fool, and a big one 
too, about a girl he loves. 

But the course of true love never did 
run smooth, and all pretty roses have 
their thornes. So when these orders 
come they did not know what to do. 
Their first impulse was to get on one of 
the big cakes of ice that was floating 
over the great tunnel in the Behring 
Strait, right at the narow part. Prince 
of Wales land, and let it cary them 
whither it might. The men on the 
Great Oriental did not belong to Debs’ 
army but are like trained soldiers and 
do not pay any attention to any orders 
except those of the railroad officials 
from whom they get their daily bread 
and are always willing and ready to 
obey their orders. But one to advance 
and one to retreat, caused them to de- 
cide to refer the matter to the presi- 
dent. While the trial was going on, 
we would nearly always get out of the 
hall at 4 p.m., and as our car and en- 
gine was there, we could run home in 
two hours and fifteen minutes. So one 
night this matter was all spread out 
before him. 

Gaptain, said he, here is a Gordian 
knot for you. 

I looked over the correspondence. 
Colonel, said I, you must settle this 
matter. 

Why, said he. 

Well, said I, this is a case of love and 
money and as I have no' money, I know 
nothing about it, and at my age and 
time of life I am not going to mix my- 
self up in nobody’s love affair. While 
I am out of troudblei I am going to keep 
out, so I do not care to give a decision 
when you are here. In fact I will not. 

Well, Captain you see the fixT am in. 

I do not wish to reverse my officers. 
But the matter must be decided to- 
night, and I will telephone them. They 


are at our Big Oriental Hotel just on 
the Asia side or about four miles from 
the Strait, just four miles from the 
the mouth of the tunnel. We. have got 
the finest depot and hotel in the world 
there. 

But, Colonel, said I, how about this 
case. 

Yes, said he, my sympathies are with 
my conductors, but my interest is to 
sustain my general managers, which 
one must it be — that is the question? 
Why will men be so foolish. Captain? 

Colonel, said I, you will never be able 
to decide this case. I see that now. 
No man is a competent judge in his 
own case, that is where his own inter- 
est is involved. I will show this very 
forcibly in a way that will prove what 
I say here is true. Men will do any- 
thing, some for those they love and 
some for money. For money he will 
trampled down all the good instincts 
that his Creator has implanted in him. 
and will assume the character of the 
tiger, and the elephant in a jungle, one 
killing the little animals that cross his 
path, when along comes the big ele- 
phant or big moneyed man and steps on 
his dead body. But as you say this 
thing must be settled to-night. It cost 
money to have men there, and doing 
nothing, and getting pay. But there is 
one man in this building we have not 
thought of as yet. He sees more money 
than most of us do, and therefore will 
be less liable to be influenced by it, and 
that is our paymaster. Col. Sursey B. 
Atkinson, who lived some years ago at 
Ruston, La., before he became the pay- 
master of the Great Oriental Railroad. 

We found him in his office. The hour 
was late, but he was preparing to leave 
for Paris at daylight. He had just got 
in that evening, having come from Caoe 
Horn in (South America, and was going 
to keep on round to Cape of Good Hope. 
We had received word that day that 
Barney Marion, a bridge builder of 
world-wide fame, with E. L. Loftin, the 
man who put the tunnel in the Behr- 
ing Strait, would in all probability 
have our suspension bridge from Gib- 
ralta in the South of Spain, over to 
Morocco, north Africa, ready, so he was 
getting his money ready. Several mil- 
lions were laying on his table and two 
colored men, Jim Chambers was one of 


144 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANSCONTINENTAL R. R. 


them, were shoveling’ it up like it was 
coal. We entered, the president and I. 

Col. Atkerson said I, we have a case 
here for you to decide. I then submit- 
ted the case. 

Well, said he, I see no reason why our 
general managers should have the best 
salaries on the road and all the chance 
to win the two prettiest women in the 
world. They can go to New Orleans if 
they want to, but these two conduc- 
tors cannot, without their orders are re- 
voked so I shall decide in favor of Gen- 
eral (Manager MciCormick and there- 
fore in favor of the two conductors. 

So they all met in a few days at the 
St. Charles. The two general managers 
were talking to the girls when the two 
conductors walked in, and they very 
politely told them they had made en- 
gagements to go to the opera, and they 
were very sorry, but they could not 
change their time cards. 


CHAPTER XXII. 


When the thirty days had expired we 
all found ourselves in New Orleans 
again, to hear the decision in the case. 
The crowd was somewhat larger than 
before in that immense building, which 
I ought to here describe, but will not, 
only to say it is one of the handsomest 
of the kind in the world. From the 
floor to top of the dome is 300 feet. It 
is so perfect in its construction that a 
whisper can be heard all over the great 
building. While we were trying the 
case we occupied the center, while the 
people occupied seats like in the old 
Roman colliseum. The court again as- 
sembled and the fair defendants were 
told to stand up, and were asked if 
they had anything to say why the sen- 
tence of the court should not be pro- 
nounced against them. 

Miss Trilby replied she had nothing 
to say. 

The court then began. Secretary 
Judge Leonard reading the opinion, 
which was that the case be dismissed 
without any prejudice to the Great 


Oriental Railroad Company. So far as 
the mashing down of these tall silver 
men were concerned, but Miss Pauline 
Trilby and her cousin must give up 
there trains and marry the General 
Managers, who were dead in love with 
them, travel in her own car, and live 
in a brown stone mansion. The great 
throng, who always applaud, those who 
have plenty and are given more, broke 
out in a wild applause. But you can 
never tell what a woman will do. 

Just then Miss Trilby arose, and in 
a neat little speech thanked the court 
that they did not decide that her father 
should pay for the cars with his gold 
and he would be ready to take in some 
of the next bonds. But she was a wo- 
man again, and although she had pro- 
mised the General Manager she would 
marry him, she had changed her mind 
and they were going to take the con- 
ductors. But women are funny. No 
one can tell what they will do. It is 
only necessary here to say that the 
girls did marry the conductors. Their 
fathers became angry with them, and 
refused to do anything for them, but 
their husbands were true, and deter- 
mined men, as I have seen on many 
great railroads, and the last time I 
heard of them were doing well. The 
girls made good wives, and the boys 
good husbands. But oft in the chilly 
night they are for moments sorry they 
did not get on one of those cakes of 
ice in the Behring Strait, for the 
romance has now become mixed up 
with baby carriages, house rent and 
grocery bills, and the brown stone man- 
sion builds very slow. But such is life. 
A few more words will close this, I 
hope, most interesting chapter in Capt. 
Glover’s Great Oriental Railroad. 

The evening after the girls announced 
their intention to marry the conduct- 
ors, 10,000 young men who had been 
spending their money on flowers, chew- 
ing gum and candy, took the train for 
the West End, determining to drown 
themselves, but after wading out into 
the lake up to their necks, concluded 
they would not. This decision was a 
wise one. Never worry yourself about 
men who do not like you, or women 
who do not love you. As to the General 

Managers they were inconsolable. 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 145 


They supposed they had, by far, the 
best ammunition to storm the hearts 
of these two pretty women — money and 
a good business position. General 
Manager Geo. L. Gurley told me he 
sat up with the one, who was in love 
with Miss Trilby for two or three nights 
and he thought he would kill himself, 
and he was now convinced of what he 
had always believed, that is, if you 
have money you must needs have some- 
thing else, and that money is only a 
balm to those who have nothing, and 
that the happiest people in this world 
are those of comfortable circumstances, 
who are not trying to lead society or 
politics and whose dreams are not 
haunted by visions of tomorrow’s strife. 
I agreed with the General Manager. 
But to proceed with my story. 

No event in the history of 
this country excited nr.ore interest, be- 
cause it was the death of bloomers. 
Judge Blanchard told me the speech 
I made before that transportation de- 
partment was the finest thing of the 
kind he had ever listened to. 

Men talk about the decay of elo- 
quence, Captain, said he, but as long 
as men shall dwell together, and they 
are eductaed men, it will always have 
both its effect and its infiuence. 

When this trouble v/as over, we be- 
gan to improve the line and made her 
a double track from New Orleans up 
to the border of Alaska, where it has 
been for more than ten years, for I 
have now been with the company one 
year when I write this. There is an 
old saw, which says it is better to have 
been born lucky than rich. I was talk- 
ing with Col. Coppage a few days after 
the trial of Miss Pauline Trilby, and 
said to him, it was a fortunate thing 
for our two lady conductors that they 
were born pretty, that I always would 
believe that nothing in the world ever 
won the case for us, but that they were 
the prettiest women in the world, and 
my speech had nothing to do with it; 
that a beautiful woman always was the 
most powerful argument you could use 
with men; that history was full of such 
cases. The beautiful Indian maiden 
saved the life of Capt. John Smith, by 
her tears she stayed the savage arm 
of her father. The beautiful wife of 

10 


Uriah caused King David to commit 
crime, and I could go on for hours and 
recite incidents. We see how much 
better the pretty girls get along when 
they travel on the cars or in the Hotel 
or ball rooms, everywhere. And the 
man that does not like to look at a 
pretty woman it were far better for 
him that he had a mill stone about his 
neck and was cast into the middle of 
the sea. What brought this conversa- 
tion up was another case of trouble 
we had with the New Woman on the 
Great Oriental Railway. This time 
the defendant was Miss Annie Liaurie 
Heart. Her offense was that as engi- 
neer on train No. 650 she had killed 
about fifty head of Jersey cows. They 
are the only ones that are allowed to 
roam out on the railroad track. This 
happened near Fort Smith, Ark., and 
the old hayseed brought suit for 
$25,000. Our Claim Agent told 
the President that this claim 
was exorbitant. He could take $50,000 
and buy every cow in the State. He 
then told me to write Miss Heart a 
pretty sharp letter, asking for the whys 
and wherefores of the killing all this 
fine stock and be sur^? to state if they 
were all well tied to the track. I wrote 
the letter and in few days I recived my 
first introduction to Miss Annie Laura 
Heart, the female engineer on the Great 
Oriental. I was in the office with 
Capt. Robertson when she walked in, 
and the moment I saw her I knew she 
was not the one the song was composed 
about, unless the author wore leather 
spectacles. She had a beautiful name 
— ^Heart — but she was the ugliest mor- 
tal on earth, she was about 35 years old, 
was six feet high, weighed 350 pounds, 
and what little hair she had, it was red. 
She had a foot as big as a ham and 
about that shape, and a fist that would 
have made Corbett wilt. Her features 
were large and course. She wore 
bloomers, as did all the New Women, 
and as she walked she reminded me of 
Pallstaff. She had a big stick in her 
hand, and her voice was like a' fog 

horn. She had never seen the Presi- 
dent. 

Are you the man, said she, that wrote 
me this here letter? 


146 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS^CONTINENTAL R. R. 


No Miss, said I, I am not the Colonel. 
I am his secretary, Captain Glover. 

Oh! said she, with a smile, I have 
been in love with you since I read your 
speech in Miss Trilby’s case. 

Oh horrors! thought I. This thing in 
love with me. And suppose she was to 
say I would have to go with her. She, 
the New Woman, and from her dimen- 
sions, I wauld be compelled to follow 
her. 

Sit doiwn Miss Annie Laurie, said I. 
I suppose you wish to see the president 
about your case? 

No, said she. I wish to see you. I 
want you to take my case before the 
transportation department and make 
me a speech like you did for Miss Goos- 
enheimer. I read about it and I want 
the same crowd. 

I looked at Captain Robertson and 
he was killing himself laughing and 
enjoyed the trouble I had gotten my- 
self in by taking up the cases of the 
New Woman. Men who are generous 
will get imposed upon some time. 

Miss Annie, said I, that would be im- 
possible. The facts in the case are not 
the same. Tours is a case of killing 
cows; the other was a trial between 
gold and silver. You see those young 
ladies jammed down a lot of silver men 
so that now they are only 3 feet high 
and dumb as well. I am sorry but the 
law does not provide for the hearing of 
any cow cases and will not until we 
have a Populite president in the United 
States. Then when the Secretary of 
state, Wm. Peffer, turns his cows in 
President Jerry Simpson’s front yard 
at the White House, there may be a cow 
case. But then it would not be heard 
by the transportation department of 
this government. 

I thought sure she would hit me one 
with her stick, for she had been mayor 
of a town in Kansas. But she did not. 

Well Captain, said she, at the same 
time taking out a big red handkerchief 
and wiping off paint enough to begin a 
shop and chalk enough to run a public 
school for a week, am I not to have a 
trial. 

I saw the vanity sticking out, al- 
though she was so homely she would 
stop a clock. And she wanted to be- 
come a heroine of the Great Oriental 
railroad. But it was no go. Nature 


had done a good deal for her, but she 
did not get beauty in her share. Hero- 
ines on the Great Oriental had to be 
beautiful. 

Oh yes, Miss Laurie, said I. There 
will be a trial, but they will not try 
you. This is a suit againsit the com- 
pany and not against you. We will 
have a lawyer there to defend the case 
for us. All we will require of you is 
to be a good swift witness. We have 
the conductor’s report that these cows 
were all steers and were well strapped 
to the track. 

I talked a long time with this female 
in the hope that the Colonel would 
come and take her off my hands. She 
finally remarked it was a fine evening 
and she would like to have me drive her 
out to the National Cemetery and we 
would stop at the military park on our 
way home. Captain Robertson could 
not stand it any longer for she began to 
chat with him also, so he gave me the 
slip and left me all alone. I explained 
that the President did not permit me 
to leave my work until late and she 
would have to excuse me. 

Well, said she, I will go to the opera 
with you. They have plays all the 
summer. The house was cooled in a 
manner and with a plant and machin- 
ery I shall also describe. I slipped this 
noose off by telling her I was going to 
Paris that night on the 7 p.m. train. 
I thought I would bluff her out on this 
but talk about your granulated glue — 
those New Women were worse. She 
headed me off on this by saying she 
had long thought of going to Paris and 
she would take the same train and go 
with me. If I would not give her a 
pass, she had plenty of money and she 
could pay her fare. Talk about your 
cold hand. I began to have a chill 
every few minutes. I was a good judge 
of human nature, and I will prove it to 
you, where men were concerned and 
not women. I saw the mistake I made 
was in not catering to her vanity, by 
promising her a sensational trial in 
New Orleans, and billing the town well 
before hand. I would have been 
through with her in a few minutes. 
ThaVs the way to get rid of lots of 
people — promise them every thing, even 
impossible things. So I changed my 
tactics. 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R, 147 


Miss Laurie, said I, let me examine 
the law, perhaps I have been mistaken 
in your cas'e, and taking up the book 
I began to read. MTiy yes! Miss Annie, 
your case has no precedent in this gov- 
ernment. The killing of fifty Jersey 
cows by a female engineer. I will cer- 
tainly take pleasure in appearing in 
your case. 

At this she began to smile and the 
thought of a Duke wanting to marry 
her tickled her to her toes. All women 
have a little vanity, even if they are 
homely, and for several minutes she 
was the jollies t girl -I ever saw. S'he 
wanted to treat me to beer and ham- 
sandwiches, but I told her I could not 
drink on duty and would see her later. 
I had her fixed all right, I thought, but 
though she was not good looking, she 
was as sharp as a steel trap. 

Captain, said she, I hear you write 
poetry, and that you are the author of 
this* song for those no account men 
fhat the New Women have condescend- 
ed to marry. I am on my way to the 
New Woman’s Congress, which will 
meet in a few days in New Orleans and 
I want to know if you wrote it. We 
will take your case up. Here she pass- 
ed me the song in manuscript. 

THE SONG OF THE NEW WOMAN’S 
HUSBAND. 

With his right hand he hastens to rock 
. The pretty wicker cradle; 

And with his left hand in a sock 
He stands beside a pot of mush. 

And tries to yield the ladle. 

And as he works he fain would sing. 

The restless twins to quiet; 

But ah! his rhymes get sadly mixed 

In with the corn meal diet. 

“Hush! hush! hush! 

Mush! mush! mush! 

Lie still and slumber; 

Mammy’s got wheels in her head; 

She’s gone to the polls. 

Your poor little souls. 

And I wish that your daddy was dead! 
dead! dead! 

How I wish that your daddy was 
dead.” 


This lullaby the twins doth shock. 

They shriek; he rocks the faster; 

And from his left hand slips the sock 
Into that iron pot of mush. 

Of seething mush, of red-hot mush. 

To heighten the disaster. 

In vain he tries to claw it out. 

And cooks his brawny feelers; 

“Hush up!” he roars unto the twins, 
“You everlasting squealers! 

“Hush! hush! hush! 

Mush! mush! mush 
Lie still and slumber; 

Mammy’s got wheels in her head; 

She don’t care a skip . 

If you die with the pip. 

Nor if daddy is burned till he’s dead! 
dead! dead! 

In a pot of hot mush, till he’s dead.” 

Just then his voting wife walks in, 
Alas! ’tis she, none other; 

And asks with elevated chin, 

‘ISay do you boll your socks in mush? 

Is this your way of making mush? 

Is this the way of your mother?” 
“No-o,” stammered he, “the sock fell in, 
This sock that I was darning; 

It scorched th-e twi-ins, and screamed 
th-e mu-ush 

Without a moment’s warning. 

“Hush! hush! hush! 

Mush! mush! mush! 

Lie still and slumber; 

Mammy’s got wheels in her head; 
She’s home from the polls. 

You poor litttle souls. 

And I wish that your daddy was dead! 
dead! dead! 

How I wish that your daddy was 
dead.” — Picayune. 

Miss Heart, said I, when I had read 
it, you see by my hair, which is short, 
that I do not write poetry. But what 
if I /were to tell you those are my senti- 
ments, what would you do? 

I would hit you a lick that would 
make you think that a mule had kicked 
you. 

Miss Heart said I, you do not seem to 
understand. I am an officer of this 
Great Oriental Company, and have it in 
my power to have you dismissed. But 


148 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R, 


I never use my power in that way. I 
have no disposition to do you any harm. 
But if you strike me, I will g'et my li- 
cense in one week to practice law and 
you will wish you had never seen Cap- 
tain Glover, for I will prosecute you to 
the bitter end. I thought sure I had 
her bluffed. 

You can’t do nothing, said she, with a 
snap of her fingers. The “New Wo- 
man’’ and the A. R. U. run this coun- 
try and you men and capitalists are not 
in it at all. 

Well, said I, determined she should 
not have the last word; the most fool- 
ish thing a, man ever tried, to have the 
last word with a woman. I will get 
even with you if you strike me, said I, 
trembling as I talked. I will take you 
to Turkey; that one country women do 
not rule. 

You can’t do nothing, said she. 

I can, said I. I am a prominent man 
now. I am an authority on wind, 
weather and money. I will go before 
the Sultan of Turkey and charge you 
with wilfully running your engine over 
a Turk the last time you were on the 
run from Moscow to St. Petersburg. I 
will land you in a Turkish prison or 
Harem. You know, said I, all the prom- 
inent men say, others believe. This 
still did not bluff her, so I thought I 
would try a new argument. She had 
sense, and you can always do some- 
thing with people, if they have any 
sense. Miss Annie Laurie Hart, said I, 
if you expect to stay on the Great 
Oriental Railway it will pay you to get 
along with the officers. If the Presi- 
dent had been here and heard you, 
“for words are things,’ he would have 
told me to pay you off, and he would 
pay this cow bill, as exorbitant as it 
is, before he would be bluffed out by 
an engineer or any other kind of em- 
ploye. Now let me tell you something, 
said I, talking in a serious mood, fight- 
ing the officers of the railway company 
is fighting the company. Who the 
stockholders are Heaven only knows, 
so if you are wise do not fight the of- 
ficers until you are ready to go into 
some other kind of business and have 
got the money. Even then it is not a 
good idea. Always part with your old 
employers friends if you can. Now, 


said I, you are in the same fix I am, 
you are poor, you are working for your 
living, and not for the fun of the thing. 
We go to the opera and the park for 
amusement and to our work because 
we have to. So let’s you and I be 
friends. You are not the first one who 
has done me a wrong, but I will for- 
give you and will excuse all your in- 
temperate talk. I will say nothing to 
the President about the matter, and we 
will send a good lawyer up to Port 
Smith, Ark., to try the case. 

With this Miss Heart wiped the tear, 
which gathered in her eye, and extend- 
ed me her big honest hand, and we 
shook. And what promised to be a war, 
was ended in peace. This is “capital 
and labor.’’ Let them be friends. I 
did not say what I did to Miss Heart, 
to try to curry favor with the Colonel, 
for I did not give the snap of my finger 
what the President of the Great Orient- 
al Railroad thought of my views on 
labor, money, silver or gold, or the 
tariff, or on religion, or any other ques- 
tion. I was a free man and in a free 
country, and if he did not think, or if 
any one else did not think, I was able 
to take care of myself all they had to 
do was to stir me up. But what I had 
said to her was the truth, the whole 
truth, and nothing but the truth, and 
I simply defy any man to prove to the 
contrary. No man can long remain in 
the service of any corporation, or in- 
dividual, if he attempts to destroy or 
interfere with its successful or profita- 
ble operation. Men are cheap. I saw 
she was a poor deluded girl, whose 
head had been turned by some “A. R. 
U.” man; may be she had read one of 
Donnaley’s books or “Coin’s Financial 
School,” and I wanted to save her, if 
I could, and I did. 

Just then the Colonel made his ap- 
pearance, and I took my hat and gold 
cane and skipped out, and that was the 
last time Miss Annie L. Heart ever saw 
me for a long time. We sent one of 
the company’s most talented young 
lawyers, Wm. J. Collier, the District 
Attorney of Warren County, Missis- 
sippi. He told me that there was not 
a soul in that court house, except the 
judge and jury, and the old hayseed 
and his lawyer, and all his family. 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 149 


enough of them to fill a coach. We 
proved that more than half of the cat- 
tle were oxen. But he proved that they 
all give more milk than Col. Bob. Cox’s 
now famous well would throw out in 
a century. His lawyer calculated dam- 
ages, because we did not settle 
in one week. He said each 
cow would have lived fifty years, and 
every year give birth to a calf. Then 
he took up all their offsprings and cal- 
culated how much milk and butter they 
would have g^iven, and how many hogs 
they would have fattened, and he put 
that in, hogs and all; and when he was 
done, we found that our female engi- 
neer, Miss Heart, had killed over 800,- 
000 head of fine Jersey cattle, all of the 
“Stokes Pogis Family,” and destroyed 
butter enough, had it been pound rocks, 
to have ballast the Great Oriental 
Railroad from Cape Horn to the Cape 
of Good Hope, where it now runs. 
There was also milk, sweet, and butter 
enough lost to have fed all the babies 
that will be born for the next thousand 
years, and made an ocean as large as 
the Pacific, and have some left. Great 
cows! great cows! those Arkansas 
cows; you had best try and get the 
breed. His bill was a modest one, he 
said, compared with what his client 
has lost, $50,000,000. Takes another 
bond sale to meet it. He did not stop 
here. He then calculated .that this 
amount invested in government bonds 
would bring four per cent., and as the 
public debt would not be paid in 200 
years, if the Democrats had many more 
terms, they were of course entitled to 
all this interest up to the close of the 
twenty-third century. At this the old 
Judge began to show signs of weaken- 
ing and told the counsel he had best 
not urge that matter to the Jury, so 
he then appealed to the old farmer, 
who said he would move the interest 
if we would pay his lawyer. The Judge 
made a little speech to the Jury, and 
said the bill showed this farmer was 
willing to loose something, and was a 
generous man. There is nothing like 
charity under the sun; and he in- 
stuoted the jury that we were all a 
lot of slaves, ,and dare not tell the truth 
if we could, who, of course, found for 
the farmer, and against the Great Ori- 
ental Railway Company, Such is jus- 


tice to the railroads. And that’s what 
the company got for not having a beau- 
tiful girl on the engine. 

But I may as well tell you here we 
did not pay this bill. But he was out 
when the news came and said a good 
many things that was a slight varia- 
tion from the “Maiden’s Prayer,” 
though the president is not a wicked 
man. We had ex-Governor John R. 
Land, of Louisiana, take this case to 
Washington city, where with some new 
evidence we showed the cows were worth 
three dollars a head and that we only 
killed five and though those were well 
chained to our track. But before we 
would have the lawyer who had brought 
the suit stuck for his fee, we would pay 
this amount, so you see if lawyers do 
not agree as to the value of cows, how 
are they going to agree as to the value 
of gold and silver? As to Miss Heart, 
she was so disgusted with law and 
courts and juries (for the jury wanted 
to hold her until we should pay the 
judgment) that she gave up her engine 
and quit railroading and hired herself 
out to the “Barnum and Bailey Cir- 
cus” as a ifat woman and the heroine of 
the celebrated cow case. 

When she resigned the president said, 
thanks to good fortune, Captain, we are 
rid of one more New Woman. But you 
write her a nice letter and tell her that 
when she wants to ride on our Great 
Oriental to let us know. We will al- 
ways be pleased to furnish her with a 
pass. But Miss Annie was a good girl, 
and that was her first trouble. After 
she left the company I learned some- 
thing of her history. She was a poor 
but honest girl who missed her voca- 
tion and went to running an engine. 
But she supported her old mother and 
several younger brothers and sisters, 
something good looking people will not 
always do. You cannot always tell. 
Rough exteriors, both in men and wo- 
men, are often the cases of noble and 
honest hearts. I remarked she did not 
see me for a long time. I met her one 
year after that, in a dime museum in 
Chicago. She seemed pleased to see 
me and said she would always like me 
for the advice I gave her, though I am 
not given much to that kind of, business. 
S^he said she believed I was a good 
friend to working people and remarked 


150 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R, 


that she was going- to ask us for a pass 
soon from iNew (Orleans to Paris. I told 
her all right, she .should have it at any- 
time. She said she knew she was teas- 
ing me by asking me to take her out 
riding. She knew that she was ugly 
and that gentlemen did not like to ap- 
pear on the streets with ugly women, 
but she was an intelligent woman; 
people are often homely but smart. 
God gave them brains instead of beau- 
ty. Will Collier, our lawyer, told me 
that Arkansas lawyer just paralyzed 
him, and if he ever got a claim against 
this government he’d bust her. He was 
sorry he could not win the case. I 
laughed, but told him the company was 
well satisfied, that he done the best he 
could, and his bill for his fee would be 
honored at any time. I consoled him by 
telling him this lawyer was like a 
friend of mine who went into the poul- 
try business. He bought himself five 
dozen leghorn hens and set down one 
night to figure the results, and before 
morning he had covered the whole face 
of the earth four foot deep in chickens, 
when he abandoned the enterprise 
rather than afflict such suffering on the 
human family who want something else 
besides boarding-house chicken. You 
may wish to know why in big cases 
like those of Miss Trilby and Miss Pet 
Heart, as she was sometimes called, we 
did not have our big lawyers like Judge 
Murray P. 'Smith and the one we em- 
ployed to keep the “Phantom Club” off 
of us. 

Well, I will explain. The president 
always employed his lawyers by the 
year; work or play, and he always in- 
cluded a summer resort in Italy or on 
the Rhine and when the first swallow 
flew to the town, they took the train 
for London and flew away, so he told 
me the next time, I wrote out a contract 
to leave that summer home out. So 
you see the Great Oriental has begun to 
cut expenses, and no telling where it 
may end. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

Having disposed of the beautiful Miss 
Pauline Trilby and hei lovely cousin, 
and shown their failures as passenger 


conductors on the Great Oriental, it 
is only necessary to make a few more 
comments in their cases, when we will 
turn our attention to more practical 
things than the love affairs of the 
conductors and General Managers on 
Capt. Glover’s Great Oriental Railway. 
The wedding, which was a double one, 
was a very quiet one, and took place 
a few weeks after the great trial in 
the First Presbyterian Church, Dr. 
Palmer’s Church, on South street, near 
Lafayette square, in the city of New 
Orleans, and was only witnessed by a 
few friends, as the conductors were 
poor men, having only strong arms 
and their jobs. Their fathers refused 
them a trousseau because they would 
not sell themselves for money, but the 
President very generously paid them 
one month’s salary, though they were 
no longer with .the company. The of- 
ficers are often more generous than 
they get credit for, and this fitted them 
out. They said they would marry in 
a calico dress if they could do no bet- 
ter, as a big display at a wedding 
would have nothing to do with their 
future happiness. Such is the power 
of love. Let women remember that 
fame does not insure happiness, that 
power cramps; that money never glo- 
rifies, but that love is the purest and 
grandest force in the world. 

The two General Managers who had 
been defeated in a contest in which they 
had more than an equal chance, after 
a few days, took their defeat like phil- 
osophers, and held no malice against 
the boys for trying to better their con- 
dition, for who is prepared to say that 
a man with a good wife has not better- 
ed his condition. They were the first 
to tender there congratulations and 
made them a handsome present. They 
came to see the President and asked 
him to watch the record of the boys, 
and at the first opportunity to promote 
them. They admitted they tried to 
get them out of the country, but smil- 
ingly said, all was fair in war, love and 
politics. 

Now It is proper you .shjuldhere 
knovr something of the Transportation 
department of this government so often 
ref.^rred to, who I first heard this from 
and the circumstances will here be told. 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R, 151 


I made mention of the fact that I was 
in iNew Orleans about three months be- 
fore our line was opened to see Col. 
H. Dudley Coleman, who in addition to 
building- cars for the Oreat Oriental 
Railroad found time to run for con- 
gress. I was to see him about the pri- 
vate car of the president, the one with 
the sixteen silver wheels and trucks of 
the same material. When my busi- 
ness with him was over I went to the 
St. Charles Hotel, where I always stop- 
ped and while sitting in the rotunda 
looking over the Picayune, I saw a tall, 
neat looking gentleman with dark hair, 
who wears side-burns, step up to the 
register and call off my name. Captain 
Glover, of the Great Oriental Railroad, 
I should like to meet him, said he. 
Where is he, Mr. Clerk? 

Here I am, said I, and this was my 
first meeting with Judge Newton C. 
Blanchard, after my return to the Uni- 
ted States. This gentleman is one of 
the best known characters in this story. 
He ably represented the State of Lou- 
isiana in the lower and upper houses of 
the American Congress and was the 
first Secretary of Transportation. As 
near as I can remember, this conversa- 
tion with him took place a little over a 
year before the trial of Miss Trilby and 
about three months before the Great 
Oriental Railroad was completed. As I 
have before said, its trains are daily 
crowded and it is carrying the products 
of all the heathen and civilized world. 
After making some inquiries as to the 
president, and the progress we were 
making with the great bridge over the 
Mississippi river at Milliken’s Bend, I 
asked him to tell me something of the 
Transportation Department, as I had 
already had some correspondence with 
them. 

Well, some years ago. Captain, said 
he, it was apparent to me, as it must 
have been to many men, that some 
means must be devised to protect the 
people in their property as well as to 
hear and determine the cause of work- 
ingmen on the railroads in this great 
country. This came more and more 
forcibly to my mind after the great 
strike in Chicago, which resulted in 
Debs going to jail and a great many 
people losing property for which no 
one could be held accountable. I was 


in the senate of the United States at 
the time and the more I thought over 
the matter the more I was satisfied 
something must be done to protect poor 
deluded workingmen, who should be 
drawn into the vortex. Just at that 
time the Great Oriental was asking 
congress to give them a charter 
through Alaska and to endorse their 
bonds. The Great Cape Horn route was 
also asking for national recognition to 
join the continents of North and South 
America. This route goes through my 
home. This is after the plan as was an- 
ticipated by you, before the loss of the 
fleet of ships. The United States 
.had a "lailroid .'ommission and many 
of the States had them also. Some 
work had been done by Carroll D. 
Wright towards forming a national 
board of arbitration. So I took what 
they had done and drew the bill crea- 
ting the Secretary of Transportation 
with his four commissioners. The Uni- 
ted States is now divided into four dis- 
tricts, the Mississippi river forming the 
division line, and the Ohio following out 
an imaginary line to the Pacific Ocean. 
That makes four districts. The secre- 
tary has supervision over all railroads 
in the hands of receivers that was once 
in charge of the United States District 
courts, as well as the Union and Pacific 
Railroads and it also acts as a national 
board of arbitration for all roads where 
any trouble arises between the railway 
companies and their employees. When 
sitting as a court of that character the 
labor organizations are entitled to have 
four men sit with the court. You need 
not be a lawyer to appear in behalf of 
your company, or the labor order to 
which you may belong. The president 
appoints the secretary, w'ho usually is 
of his faith; but in the commissioners 
this is notconsidered; what he may or 
may not think of silver or the tariff cut 
no figure in the matter. The judge then 
told me who those commissioners were 
and as you have read the matter I need 
not here name them again. I then ask- 
ed him w’hat become of the different 
State commissions and he told me they 
had all been abolished; the law was a 
good one, and under it much railroad 
building had taken place; as there was 
absolute security to the owners. 

But not withstanding this law, which 


152 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


is much better, there are still cranks 
who wants the government to buy or 
take the railroads. Tom B. Reed, of 
Maine, was President when I drew this 
bill. He said I was best informed with 
what I wished and he made me the 
first Secretary, lit is only a business 
matter. Captain, and I am still a 
Democrat, as I have always been, and 
a silver man. 

Judge, said I, do you think there will 
be any additional legislation on the 
railroad questions? 

Captain, said he, that is what no man 
can tell. Twenty years ago no one 
would have supposed we would ever 
have any kind, but we have had com- 
missions in most all the States, and 
a United States commission, and now 
the Secretary of Transportation. This 
for the present seems to fill all the re- 
quirements of the times. I am no 
prophet and could tell what the future 
may bring forth. I will also add. Cap- 
tain, that our findings are not final, or 
binding. We hear all the causes leading 
up to the strike and give our opinion 
or recommendation as to what is best. 
The men are free to do as they please, 
but no cause as yet has ever been suc- 
cessful unless the public sentiment was 
with it. This is the Transportation de- 
partment of this government in brief. 
For a full account of its powers, I beg 
you see the “Revised Statutes of the 
United Staes.” 

The Judge and I had a long talk on 
many points and this was why I did 
not object to him in our case and why 
I wrote him when I went to New Or- 
leans to close the deal. It is proper to 
here say that the reason why these two 
young ladies were given a hearing be- 
fore this department was because the 
claims of those tall silver men were 
filed against the government, as well 
as the Railway company. The reason 
why no labor men sit in their case was 
because they did not belong to any 
order, but “New Women,*" and they 
were willing to risk their case with the 
Secretary and his commissioners. Eu- 
gene V. Debs wrote the girls and want- 
ed to get on the case, but' they refused. 
Their decision was wise. Too many 
men in the railroad business have lis- 
tened to this gentleman already for 


the good of their jobs. It is due Judge 
Blanchard to here say he did not agree 
with the majority of the court, that 
the tall silver men should have noth- 
ing. He agreed only in part with them, 
that all young ladies should get mar- 
ried if they saw a good "’Duke in sight,’’ 
but he published in the New Orleans 
Picayune and Time-Democrat a dis- 
senting opinion, setting forth at length 
the views he has long entertained on 
the silver issue. 

Col. Walter McLaurin, the Mississip- 
pi District Commissioner, told me he 
would have given the same opinion 
had he sit in the case. He returned 
a few days before the wedding and act- 
ed as best man for one of the conduct- 
ors, a fraternity he has always been a 
great friend to. 

Here the writer finds so many amus- 
ing and interesting things the Cap- 
tain has recorded that he is unable to 
say which will most interest, but these 
two, which will show the character, 
not only of the hero, but many other 
men will be given. I will therefore ask 
you to refer back to the time when 
Col. Coppage, the President, went to 
Sitka to treat with the Indians. Col. 
Bill had also returned from that famous 
run from Cape Horn to Vicksburg. I 
was sitting in the office dictating some 
letters refusing free passes, when our 
telephone violently rang 

Hello! said I; who is this? 

This is me. Captain, President Cop- 
page. I am in the city of Sitka, Alaska. 
I want to tell you that the council I 
came up here to hold with those In- 
dians, has broken up in a row, and the 
Chief, “Rain in the Horse Head,” 
chased me out of the house. I have 
stopped all the trains going by, and 
{now have the Indians corralled in ahouse. 
I wish you to telephone to the New 
Secretary of War at Shreveport, La., 
and ask him, if he has any objections 
to me fighting the Indians in my own 
way. 

Col. Bill, said I, the Colonel is in some 
trouble with the Indians. It is too bad 
that after 400 years these infernal ras- 
cals should be alive to give trouble to 
the Great Oriental Railroad. I expect 
you will have to go up rhere and fight. 

Not much, Captain. I have too much 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 153 


respect for the top of my head, I am 
willing- to fight “free silver” men, said 
he, waving the stuffed ciub he always 
carried. 

Col. Bill, said I, I do not believe you 
are as much of a gold bug as you think 
you are, and there are a good many 
just like you. I will make you sick of 
gold yet, said I. 

No, never! Captain. I will never 
change. C-old is the thing, and the 
only salvation of this country. 

All right. Col. Bill, we will see, what 
you think about it, or know about it 
before long. I then turned to our tele- 
phone over the Great Cape Horn route. 

Hello! exchange; please give me 
Shreveport and the residence of the 
New iScretary of War. 

Hello! who is this^ 

Capt. T. F. Bell, Secretary of War in 
President IMcKinley’s Cabinet; who is 
this? 

I am Capt. Glover, Private Secretary 
of the President of the Great Oriental 
Railroad. 

Well, what is it Captain? 

I want to tell you that the council 
the Colonel went to hold with those 
Indians in Alaska, about making him 
a conductor, has broken up in a row. 
The Chief chased him out with his 
tomahawk and he tells me he has got 
them all in a house, and wants to know 
if you have any objections to him go- 
ing to war with them at no expense to 
this government? 

No; I do not care. Captain, but, of 
course, I will have to come out in a long 
article in the Shreveport Times and 
judge and denounce the thing as a 
outrage — a souless corporation, doing 
poor Indians wrong. But tell me, what 
are the modes of warfare? 

Well, the President tells me if it is 
all right with you, to send him up with 
one of our fastest engines, that makes 
150 miles an hour, two car loads of dy- 
namite we have now at the Rocky 
Mountains. His plan is to tunnel un- 
der this house, place this explosive in 
position, then get away and explode it. 

Well, do you know it will tear up your 
railroad through that country? 

Yes; I suppose it will, but we can re- 
build the line and we will never be 
troubled with those Indians again. 


All right, Captaiin, go ahead, but for 
Heaven’s sake do not let the president. 
Col. McKinley, know you consulted me 
in this matter. I do not care to go to 
Washington for a few weeks. That’s 
all right Mr. Secretary. The Great 
Oriental can keep their own counsel. 

I then called John Nelson, one of the 
swiftest engineers on our road, and 
sent him flying with engine No. 26650 to 
Alaska. But the President did not blow 
the Indians up. The Colonel is a kind 
hearted man and would not hurt any 
man, be he red, white, or black. He 
took a few of the cartridges and calling 
the chief out, he had them exploded 
under some big rocks. The Chief said 
he would treat with him. He then told 
him there was a place called Washing- 
ton City, and that he and his people 
could go there and get all they wished 
and for the sake of all suffering hu- 
manity to go there, and let the Great 
Oriental Railroad Co. alone. There 
were enough people now to pick at the 
railroads without being troubled with 
Indians. The Chief went. The Presi- 
dent told me, laughing, that they sure 
had him a little nervutis for a while, 
and he was always satisfled the govern- 
ment fought the Indians too scatter- 
ing, which was the reason they had not 
all been exterminated long ago. Noth- 
ing convinces the Indian like a general 
massacre. That’s what England 
thought about it when she strapped 
them to cannons and flred them off, a 
blot upon her boasted civilization that 
will last as long as this globe will whirl 
from the sun. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 


In writing my life, as a railroad man. 
says the Captain, that I or some one for 
me will dedicate to my many friends as 
a history of the times in which I lived. 
I have found it necessary to often rub 
my free silver friends. The reader no 
doubt imagines by this time that they 


154 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R, 


have all the faults of the human fam- 
ily and none of the virtues. But this 
truthful incident, in which I was an 
actor, will show to the contrary. As 
near as I can now remember, it took 
place in the month of December. The 
Great Oriental was finished on the 1st 
day of September, a short account of 
which I will also give you. Christmas 
was approaching and I was anxious to 
do something for my many gold bug 
friends. Col. Coppage, the president, 
was in London. The evening was a 
beautiful one, cold but clear. The sun 
was sinking behind the western sky. 
and the golden clouds mingled with a 
silver lining, a good fire was burning 
in the stove, I had just got off the last 
letter that would require my attention 
for the day and was all alone. I was 
thinking of what a fine line we had and 
how the people were fiocking to us; how 
all labor troubles had gone from the 
Great Oriental. I was wishing some 
one would come in that I might have 
a little chat, for I was always social, 
like it appears to me our Creator in- 
tended we should be, or why the great 
cities of this world? I had just lit one 
of the bosses’ best Railroad King cigars 
and was preparing to have a little meet- 
ing all alone, when in walked General 
Wm, L. Harrison, of the Canton Main 
line. 

General, said I, I am surely pleased to 
see you. I was wishing for some one 
to coime in to help me out in a little 
gold present I have to make my gold 
bug friends; and did you ever stop to 
think how much human nature there 
is in the old fable we used to read in 
our old blue back spelling book, about 
the lawyer and the farmer and the ox 
and the bull? 

No I cannot say that I have. Cap- 
tain. 

Well, said I, there is the best illus- 
tration of human nature I ever saw in 
my life, and if you will enter into a lit- 
tle scheme with me I will prove it. I 
will show you man’s nature in such a 
way that it will make an impression on 
your mind that you will never forget it 
up to your dying day. There is no 
harm can come of it, said I. This gen- 
tleman is one of the best actors I ever 
saw and had I looked the land over I 
cx>uld not have found a man better suit- 


ed to my plans, and he cheerfully 
agreed to help me out. 

You are a type writer, General, said I. 
Sit down at the machine and I will dic- 
tate you a letter. Up to this time Col. 
Coppage was never known to take any 
part in a joke. All articles in the news- 
papers coming from him always car- 
ried credibility and no one ever thought 
for a moment of doubting him. The 
gold bugs liked him because he told 
them he would yet build himself a sil- 
ver railway. 

When the General said he was ready 
I got up and began to walk the fioor 
and dictate a letter, the gist of which 
was that Col. Coppage, being up in the 
city of Sitka in Alaska for some weeks, 
had discovered about twenty miles 
from there an immense bed or pit of 
gold. The box which he had sent me 
could not be considered a fair sample. 
He had made an examination, and as 
near as he could tell, the pit would 
cover about one hundred acres. He 
had thrust a long pipe down in it for 
seventy-five feet and did not strike the 
bottom. As near as he could now esti- 
mate this pit would develop about 
eight millions car loads, such cars as 
are used to transport coal; for me not 
to say anything of the matter until he 
could run enough of it to New Orleans 
and the various mints through the 
country. Then' we would buy up as 
much silver bullion as we wished, so 
that we could dictate the financial pol- 
icy of the world. 

When he had put in all the details I 
give him, I then signed the president’s 
name, W. H. Coppage. This having been 
done, I then prepared my trap. Now 
you should know that in building the 
line through Alaska and from Gibral- 
tar to the iCape of Good Hope, nearly 
through the dark continent, our chief 
of corps, Lieut. Harry A. Koch, had 
sent the president from time toi time a 
large quantity of gold nuggets, some 
of them as large as a Texas pecan. W e 
had about two bushels of them in the 
depot. I took these up to a silver- 
smith, a friend of mine, and told him 
to melt them down for me, and run 
them through a seive, so as to get them 
down to grains about the size of wheat. 
When he had it all ready for me I grot 
me a box that would hold a half bushel, 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 155 


put some express tags on it, showing it 
came from St. Petersburg, mixed some 
red clay with it and I was all ready 
for my gold bug friends, who said they 
could tell you to an ounce how muoh 
gold the world contained. 

We had often mentioned in the New 
Orleans Times-Democrat and Picayune 
these facts, and the public mind was 
just ripe to believe any kind of thing 
that should appear about those coun- 
tries, for up to the time of the bnilding 
of the Great Oriental Railway much 
of that country had never been explore 
ed by the European man, owing to the 
many weary weeks and months re- 
quired to do so. The day I had my 
traps all set, I sent up and got my 
friend, (Major Lee Richardson. He is a 
stout gentleman, has dark hair, and 
looks very much like President MoKin- 
ley. I put him on to the scheme. He 
is known to possess a large amount of 
gold, or things convertable into gold. 
He is also a good actor and I drilled 
him a little so he would go through 
with it all right. The first man to walk 
in when I got the matter all fixed was 
Col. Bill, carrying the stuffed club. Col. 
Bill was a prominent man, as I have 
shown you, for he eat dinner with Pres- 
ident Tom Reed. 

Col. Bill, said I, I am pleased to see 
you this morning, wane to ask you a 
question; have you got any money? 

Oh, yes! Captain, I have got plenty 
of money. 

How much, and what kind of money 
is it? 

I have got, I suppose, about $40,000,- 
000, all gold money, only kind that is 
any good. Gold! gold money! said he, 
repeating the word gold many times. 

Well, Col. Bill, said I, suppose I were 
to tell you that on the line of the 
Great Oriental we have found a great 
pit of gold. Well, to give you an idea, 
say three million car loads. 

Well, Captain, said he, that is not 
possible. 

Col. Bill, said I, in this world all 
things seem possible, which a man 
thinks of the Centennial Exposition in 
1876 and the great World’s Pair at 
Chicago in 1894, and of all the wonder- 
ful things he saw there — machines, that 
seemed to possess human intelligence, 


and the progress of this country for the 
past 400 years since Columbus first set 
foot on this continent — why all things 
seem possible. Why sir; a man’s imagi- 
nation, h care not how vivid it may be 
will fail him. Just to think, a man 
steps into one of our palace cars in New 
Orleans, a car so nandsome in its in- 
terior and exterior that twenty years 
ago it would have set Capt. J. P. Merry, 
a passenger agent many years with 
the Great Illinois Central, crazy — and 
he is whirled with a speed of 100 miles 
an hour on our St. Petersburg and 
Paris flying express, why nothing seems 
impossible. 

Captain, said he, I do believe you 
must be crazy or dreaming. I wrote a 
book, said Col. Bill, on the financial 
question, and I know to a pound how 
much gold there is in the world, at least 
I know as much about it as did the 
“Little Coin Statesman.” 

No, Col. Bill, said I, in a serious man- 
ner. I am not dreaming, but the 
dreams of today will and do become the 
realities of tomorrow. I wish you 
would please look at that box on the 
table and that letter from the Presi- 
dent. You know he does not put his 
name to things that are not true. 

My friends were walking the floor and 
ringing their hands, like they were in 
great agony, as they were men of 
means. The Colonel could under- 
stand why I was cool. I did not have 
anything but my salary, and it was all 
the same to me what the standard was. 
I should have to give something for it 
whatever Congress may make it. You 
cannot get money without some kind 
of a consideration, real or apparent. 
Sometimes men part with their money 
for the apparent; but all men are not 
fools. The Colonel was a man of suf- 
ficent intelligence to realize, if this was 
true, and it had all the appearance of 
it, he was a ruined man, so he sunk 
into a heap as limber as a rag, on the 
floor. I had the two porters take him 
up by the head and heels, and carry 
him into an adjoining room. I did not 
want these “gold bugs” to roll on the 
hard floor, so I sent up town and got 
about twenty mattresses from Rice & 
Co., and spread them on the floor. 

My next candidate was a well known 


156 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


banker of the city. He had presided 
at two or three sound money conven- 
tions. He was also a great admirer of 
old ex-'President Cleveland, and if any- 
thing would make him hot in the collar, 
it, was to criticise him and his Secreta- 
ry, John G. Carlisle, and their gold 
bug ideas. I thought if there was any 
man in the whole land who could stand 
this test, it would be him. I told Major 
L»ee Richardson to telephone him to 
come down. He soon entered with a 
smile. I told him a few days before I 
would have some bonds to sell. The 
President gave me a large quantity of 
New Orleans and Central American 
Railroad bonds for my own use, chang- 
ing the name of my proposed line. I 
put the same questions to him that I 
had to Col. Bill, and when he looked at 
my box the effect upon him was like 
he had been hit with 15,000 electrical 
volts. The Major said he believed I 
had killed him. I told him no, I was 
just giving him the “gold cure.” 

I then called up nearly twenty or 
more of the most prominent gold men 
of the city and in less than three hours 
I had them all stretched out in my hos- 
pital. I then told the Major I thought 
we had got enough of them to have a 
real good time with. I went in and 
took Col, Bill out and by explaining to 
him, I brought him to all right. Col. 
Bill was my friend and I never give 
my (friends any pain if I know it. But 
I told him he must give me his stuffed 
club. I then slipped on a bright armor 
made of tin, with big buttons on it that 
looked like a silver dollar, and writing 
on my breast the words “Silver King,” 
I walked into that room and with that 
club 1 beat the gold bugs until my 
arms ached. I then shut the door on 
them and you never heard such “weep- 
ing, wailing and gnashing of teeth” 
since Dante wrote his graphic descrip- 
tion of the infernal regions. Remem- 
ber they thought they were all poor 
men, and In ninety cases in one hun- 
dred you can say and do what you 
please with poor men. Now these are 
our gold bug men. See when their in- 
terests are affected how much they 
know about the financial question. I 
made them deny their own books. 

When you touch a man’s interests, you 


will see what he believes and how 
much he knows about it.. This is not 
all on them. As soon as they had re- 
covered from; the shock they held a 
meeting and passed a resolution and 
sent it on to Congressman W. B. Banks, 
requesting him to try to pass a bill to 
demonetize gold. The banker presided 
at this meeting and made a silver 
speech. Col. Bill said they were the big- 
gest job lot of fools he ever saw. The 
Major said he feared I had set in mo- 
tion a wheel I could not stop. I asked 
him if he meant in my head, and he 
said: Oh, no Captain, no wheels in 
your head. But they will all want you 
to drink at once not to tell this on them. 
So you take the first train for Denver 
for a few days. Just then Captain 
Robertson came in and I turned every- 
thing over to him and took Col. Bill 
with me. I left, but we only went to 
Hot Springs. Col. Bill said that gold pit 
gave him a cold chill every time he 
thought of it. 

While I was trying the faith of the 
gold bugs in Vicksburg, General Man- 
ager George L. Gurley sprung it on New 
Orleans. He had a two pound box and 
a copy of the letter. He left his house 
for the “cotton exchange,” and every 
prominent man he would meet he would 
show him the box and letter. It does 
not take long for news, good or bad, to 
travel. So when he reached the ex- 
change the crowd that had collected 
was larger and more noisy than the one 
that met many years ago at the Henry 
Clay statue to kill the Italians. In the 
evening he had to get the papers to 
come out and contradict it. but this 
will show how much our gold men 
know, and what kind of backbone they 
have. This is a true story and has 
more than once fallen under the eyes 
of many men. The same day Captain 
W. S. Curry, the traffic manager of the 
Great Cape Horn route, worked it on 
Shreveport. It was like the old Tom 
Collins joke— it kept going— for when 
once you start a lie, whether on a man, 
woman, or a cause, you cannot over- 
take it. The thing spread; it got to 
Washington, to New York, and for 
weeks the president was annoyed to 
death by gold bugs trying to get him 
to sell them the silver on his engines- 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 157 


I I was told that for some weeks after 
i the things had been sifted, and most 
everyone knew it, the g"old bugs, who 
call silver men cranks, foois and dis- 
honest men, would slip into a bank and 
exchange their gold for silver — its the 
law. Gold men are no better men and 
have no less human nature in them than 
our silver friends, and I proved it to 
them. I have a good mind to give their 
names, but I never hit a man when he is 
down, and they were sure down that 
day, and for a long time a man, if he 
valued his life, never would mention 
the Alaska gold pit. 

I think I have said something about 
self interest to you already and I have 
shown here when you touch a man’s 
interest you will find out what he be- 
lieves or thinks he believes. This world 
is a place where one set of men strug- 
gle against the other set; and you can- 
not make anything else out of it, sugar- 
coat as much as you may like. The 
case of the Louisiana Democrats desert- 
ing the Demfocratic party and trying 
to form a Lily White Republican party 
is a case in point. As the boys on the 
railroad used to say, when discussing 
our woes, give me beef steaks when I 
am hungry, whisky or lemonade, as our 
prohibition friends would say, when we 
are dry, silver when we are dead broke 
— and heaven when we die. “What 
fools we mortals be.’’ 


CHAPTER XXV. 


At the close of the nineteenth cen- 
tury we were often treated as to how 
things would be when the workingman 
should get all of his friends in power. 
How, as long as lampblack and rags 
hold out, all men would be made rich 
without labor; social distinctions would 
all disappear, and men would be given 
brains and knowledge without study, 
and application. The nineteenth has 
gone and the first quarter of the twen- 
tieth is upon us, and with the excep- 
tion of the things which I have told 


you of, we still have the rich and the 
poor. This incident which I relate, 
brings up in my mind an interesting 
problem. It has been one of the prob- 
lems of my life to try and decide who 
makes the best rulers or employers, 
those who) were born to power, or those 
who have acquired it. During my con- 
nection with the Great Oriental Rail- 
way, which now penetrates all of the 
lands and climes of the universe, bring- 
ing into close communication all the 
nations and races of the world; it was 
my misfortune to listen to many tales 
of woe that fell upon my listening ear, 
like the sad song of the shell, that ever 
echoes forth the fretful murmurs of 
the sea. I am forced to agree with one 
of the most noted writers and thinkers 
of the age. Col. R. G. Ingersoll, in dis- 
cussing the Hebrew question, said that 
the nationality of the man had nothing 
to do with his good or his bad qualities. 
Some of the best men, says the Colonel, 
I have e\ er known were Israelites, and 
some of the worst were Christians, or 
Gentiles. Perhaps the most conspicu- 
ous character in the world’s history of 
a man who sprung from obscurity to 
the highest position in this world was 
Abraham Lincoln, who being clothed 
with unlimited power, never abused it 
except on the side of mercy. I have 
shown you in the case of the London 
bankers, who had acquired my railroad, 
in India, and how contemptuousiy they 
spoke of their workingmen. These 
were men who had been born to wealth 
and power. 

I have shown you in the case of Col. 
Coppage, the president of the Great 
Oriental railroad, a man who had ac- 
quired power and how feelingly he had 
spoke of Miss Trilby and her cousin, 
whose carelessness had destroyed 
nine hundred thousand dollars worth 
of the company’s property and involv- 
ed us in a law suit with this govern- 
ment. With these things of which I 
had personal knowledge, how are you 
to decide. Is there any golden rule in 
these matters? It is necesary for me 
to here say to my fellow workingman, 
that it takes more than an ordinary 
man to have power over his fellow- 
men. There are men to-day who imag- 
ine their employers are the most op- 
pressive of men, who if they were put 


158 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


in their places would soon develop into 
tyrants, by the side of which the Ro- 
man fiend Calagua would be a mild 
pussy cat. These thoughts were 
brought up one day when a couple of 
young men came to see the president. 
They were working for the express 
company. In giving out the franchise 
he ignored such firms as the Southern 
and the American and Wells-Fargo & 
Co., and give it to two young men who 
were anxious for it. They called it the 
European and Oriental Express. You 
can form some idea what it is worth 
when I tell you we run twenty trains 
a day from Havre to Chicago and New 
York. They all go over our owm line, 
from Westminister junction to Chicago, 
see map of the United States. Ninety 
per cent of all the good imported into 
this country come that way. In Sitka 
is the largest custom-house in the 
world. I have seen it. The trains all 
run into it. The Colonel told me one 
day, while in this big building, that he 
saw a Chicago merchant get a whole 
carload of express, all silks, through 
the custom house for $10. That w’as 
when Wm. R. Morrison, of Illinois, was 
president. 

He said those Democrats were the 
hungriest set he ever saw. This fellow 
said if the Democrats tnought he was 
going to stay up there and freeze for 
his health they were mistaken in their 
man. President Morrison sold some 
bonds also, he tells me. That same day 
the Colonel told me «about the turn- 
over club that had caused so many 
Presidents in the country in the past 
twenty years. He said they were an 
offshoot of the “Whitling Club,"’ that 
when things did not suit them they set 
up such a howl that few men could 
stand them, that they drove out about 
five Presidents in one year, but Mc- 
Kinley and Tom Reed and Allison stuck 
them out, but Morrison and Steven- 
son, Gorman and Poraker, and Dr. De- 
pew quit; that Congress sit one whole 
year and did nothing but listen to new 
inaugural addresses; did not know 
where it would have stopped, but they 
got Robt. T. Lincoln to take it for a 
short time. So he is an ex also. 

Then this, said I, will explain the 


great number of ex-Pre&idents we now 
have living. 

It does, says the 'President. I thought 
the Manager was imposing on me some 
time ago, but I see it is all right. That 
Manager is a dandy. Colonel. Do you 
know him. 

Indeed I do. He’s all right. I re- 
marked that this turn over club must 
have been quite a power in the land. 
That Major Lee Richardson had told 
me that the laws had been changed so 
that all men could have a chance; that 
the term of the President was one and 
two years — Democrats, one year. 

Democrats are very good men. Cap- 
tain, but are like these book writers, 
kind of dreamy and visionary, theoreti- 
cal, impractical, lost when they get 
power. 

What I was going to tell you was 
about the two poor boys who came to 
see the Colonel. They were so badly 
frightened they could hardly talk. Said 
they were working for the Oriental ex- 
press, and had been running from 
Paris, Prance, to New Orleans. They 
did not care how far they had to run 
if they were not imposed upon. But 
the route agent wanted them to ride 
in* the car with a lot of loose tigers and 
lions and wild cats, with no gun to de- 
fend themselves. They would like some 
position on the road. 

General Manager McCormick listen- 
ed to their story and satisfied himself 
they were sober and told them it was 
not the custom of the Railroad Com- 
pany to take up the troubles of the ex- 
pressmen, but sometimes they think 
they own the road. He would look 
into the matter for them, and when 
they were gone he asked me what I 
thought of this act. I told him what 
I had always thought. Some men were 
not fit to have power and if they could 
get on top they would grind and de- 
stroy all others beneath them. Pew 
men can stand prosperity. So do not 
fiatter men you have never worked for, 
or imagine those you now work for are 
worse than those you are going to work 
for. Nothing is so uncertain as to how 
a man will act when he must pay you 
your wages. .. 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


159 


CHAPTER XXVI. 


This is now a land of universanl 
knowledge. Of the 150.000,000, who now 
inhabit these United States few are 
they over the age of eight years who 
cannot read and write *^he English lan- 
guage. In fact, the English language 
has now overspread the world, and we 
can all see why, in tho providence of 
God, we were permitted to remain one 
people, having a common flag, a com- 
mon law, and language, a common hope 
and flnal destiny. This much desired 
end has been brought about by many 
causes, such as compulsory education 
in many States and the adoption of the 
Australian ballot law, requiring a man 
to be able to read and write before he 
can vote, and the great improvements 
in the art of printing, making it possi- 
ble for a man to have all the standard 
works in his house, at a cost which 
only the rich man oould have afforded 
a few years ago. 

It has been very beneficial to the 
country as a whole, but very fatal to 
the free silver Populists. Nothing is so 
‘ fatal to the rag baby party, as educa- 
tion. One of the great powers in 
bringing this about has been our daily 
press. Towards the close of the nine- 
teenth century some of these papers — 
their Sunday editions — had grown to 
the volumn of a book and far better than 
many books. I do not mean this book. 
When the mind has been educated to a 
certain point it must be fed the same 
as the body. The price of a good 
newspaper has been placed at the low 
sum of five dollars per year. So a few 
months before the Great Oriental Rail- 
way was completed Col. John Morris, 
one of the general managers of the road 
received a letter from the New Orleans 
Picayune, one of the best and most 
progressive journals in the South, ask- 
ing to make a contract with the com- 
pany for a daily train toi Spokane Falls; 
also to Valpriaso, Chili, over the Great 
Cape Horn route. We closed the deal 
with them and had built for this pur- 
pose one hundred engines and oars. A 


brief description of this car- cannot fail 
to be of interest. They are seventy 
feet long and are a stronger built car 
than are those of the “Pullman.” At 
one end is a cupola, much resembling 
the pilot-house on a steamboat. The 
boxes are all open to the outside, which 
gives the car the appearance of a war- 
ship; as they look like the mouth of a 
cannon. These boxes work with an 
electric battery and there is a strong 
spring, back of each cannon, for they 
are almost like one. In those on the in- 
side of this car, the bundles of papers 
are loaded; the train runs at a high 
rate of speed, having a faster time card 
or schedule than the St. Petersburg 
Paris Lightning E?xpress, which is the 
fastest passenger train in the world. 
When the engine whistles for the town 
the operator who sits in the observa- 
tion part of the car with the keys be- 
fore him, like a typewriter, strikes the 
key, when out goes the papers for that 
point. On many plantations and at 
many small towns there are put up 
boxes that are round like a barrel. In- 
to these are shot the papers if the 
weather is bad, and so expert are these 
men that they never miss a box. The 
agents go there, o^f course, who get 
them and deliver them to the subscrib- 
ers, which means everybody who want 
to know anything, reads this book and 
the daily papers. To Vicksburg they 
pull two cars and also carry the Uni- 
ted States mail to all the large cities. 
One car turns qff at Vicksburg, going 
to Chili, via Shreveport, Houston and 
the City of Mexico. 

All the papers of New Orleans, New 
York and St. Louis are In this train: 
the Times-Democrat, the Daily States 
and the Item. At Vicksburg the paper? 
of that city are taken on — the Commer- 
cial Herald, Post and Democrat, and 
thus the world progresses. As we close 
the deal with the Picayune people for 
this train for twenty years, she is 
known as the “Picayune Flyer,” but 
none are excluded; read all, pay your 
money and take your choice. The day 
this train first ran was one of the great- 
est red letter days in the history of this 
country, for that was the day the 
Great Oriental railway was thrown 
open to the business of the world in 
order that all niight see this triumph of 


160 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


human genius. She did not leave New 
Orleans until 8 a.m. and rolled into the 
Great Union Depot at 10:20, a distance 
of 235 miles. This engine, No. 26750, is 
the handsomest piece of machinery in 
the world and the fastest engine that 
ever turned a wheel on steel or iron 
rails. She has 11 foot driving wheels 
and is silver plated and gold mounted. 
Martin Como, the well known engineer, 
for many years on the Y. & M. V. R. R. 
sits at the throttle and he and his en- 
gine seemed to be conscious that they 
must that day perform the greatest 
feat ever accomplished by man and 
machinery in the history of railroading. 
That was to go over the ground be- 
tween New Orleans, La., and Spokane 
Falls, in the State of Washington, over 
the route I have described before, in 
thirty hours and with* him carry the 
daily papers of that city. This was 
done and stands out, without an equai 
in the history of fast time on the rail- 
roads of this or any other world. 

A brief account of the ceremonies, 
now one year past, of the driving by 
Wm. McKinley, of Ohio, the President 
of the United States, of the golden spike 
completing the Great Oriental railway, 
and binding with bands of steel the 
continents of North and South America 
Europe, Asia and Africa, cannot fail to 
be of interest to the reader. For more 
than ten days before the time there be- 
gan to gather all the delegates from 
every land on earth; and every city in 
the world with a population of 5,000 
sent one or more delegates. The Queen 
& Crescent railroad, which now owns a 
line to Washington City, placed their 
line at our disposal and the President, 
Col. Coppage, sent his private car, the 
one with the 16 silver wheels under it. 
to the Capitol to bring the President 
and his cabinet. When those 16 to 1 
men in congress saw that car they 
looked like they came from “Jayville.” 

The President Major McKinley, 
made one of the finest speeches the 
world has ever read. It was not a 
long one, only consumed thirty minutes 
in its delivery. The best speeches the 
world has ever seen or read, are the 
short ones. I saw him and told him he 
could use the one I made to dint and 
it would be all right. I stole part and 


composed part, and not one in a thou- 
sand could tell which was mine and 
which was the other fellow’s. I did not 
take a very prominent part. I felt so 
poor that day that I had on my blue 
coat, but I did not care and never let 
my troubles bother my friends. They 
always seemed to appreciate me and 
my company and that is as much as 
any man need wish for. I stayed at 
the depot nearly all day and did some 
writing on the history of the times in 
which you now live. President MoKin- 
ley stayed in the city two days before 
he went to New Orleans, and from th^e 
to Washington, over the Great Queen 
& Orescent route. I had a long chat 
with him, for I feel perfectly compe- 
tent to talk with him as with any other 
man I ever saw. He offered me most 
anything I might desire in the way of 
a political office; but I told him no, but 
if he had any trouble with the “gold 
reserve” I wouldi write him a book. He 
laughed at this, and said he thought 
the land would endure for a long time, 
that the United States and Mississippi 
had more authorities on finance to the 
square acre than any land beneath the 
sun. 


CHAPTER XXVII. 


I have digressed a little from the 
main line to tell you of the “Picayune 
Flyer” on the Great Orient^ E?ailway, 
and my meeting with President Wm. 
McKinley, which I hope has proved^ Ui- 
tersting to you. What I wish to tell 
was this: Soon after the line was com- 
pleted 'the Colonel told me I had shown 
my ability to buy big railroads if the 
money (gold money) was furnished, 
and as I was President of the Board 
of Directors, I need not come to the 
office when he was in the city, unless 
I wished; that General Manager Geo. 
L. McCormick would be there most of 
the time and I could pass my time about 
the hotel and talk up the line and learn 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 161 


what I could, so as to fit me for a 
grand duty hy and by. What I am 
going to tell was to me the mosi: inter- 
esting of my many conversations with 
the officers of this great system ,and 
directly affects railroad men. Rail- 
roads are the great civilizers and 
wealth gai:herers of the age and of the 
world. And as this gentleman said, 
some of the best talent in the United 
States is now engaged in this business. 
This country is now the great railroad 
country of the world, everybody is 
more or less interested in them. The 
wealth and • power of a city is no<w 
measured by the railroads she has, and 
there can be no doubt but before the 
middle of the twentieth century the 
mileage Of the United States will reach 
the enormous sum of 900,000 miles. 
The Transportation Department of this 
government has beeen one of the great- 
est promoters of the building of new 
lines and of destroying the power of 
labor agitators and walking delegates. 
On the day to which I refer to that I 
received this information from Ook 
John Morris and Major Charles Core, 
two of the most popular General Man- 
agers on this great line, I had been up 
to the National Cemetery on the Elec- 
tric Railway where from my elevated 
position I saw the 9 o’clock St. Peters- 
burg express dash over the great 
bridge. During my many trips up 
there I had noticed a large white build- 
ing on this high bluff, with a beauti- 
ful flower garden and fountain and 
squirrels chasing each other about and 
coming up to be fed by the one armed 
and one legged men who sit about the 
grounds. I supposed it was a hospital, 
so I asked Col. Morris about it, for 
we were sitting in the rotunda of the 
Piazza Hotel, where these gentlemen 
boarded, and he told me this was the 
home of the Brotherhood of Railroad 
men. If it would be of any interest to 
me he would tell me something of it. 

I as mred him it would for it was a 
question of labor, and what concerned 
labor concerned all, for labor is the, 
foundations o-f all wealth. 

Some years ago, nearly twenty now. 
Captain, when we were poor men, only 
conductors, we made up our mind that 
some better plan to help out the pro- 

11 


fession must be adopted than that of 
cursing and abusing the officers, and 
trying to be bosses, when we were 
hired for employees and paid for our 
services. It was about the time we 
were doing the first work on the Great 
Oriental Railroad. Railroading has 
now grown to be a proifesslon like the 
law andl medicine. When a man has 
passed twenty years at the business he 
is not suited for much else. The wild 
life, more or less, causes men to be- 
come extravagant, then, as a rule, the 
railroad men are generous to a fault. 
They buy something of everything that 
comes along and after years of toil and 
labor, he is poor, and- if he is let out he 
is as helpless as a baiby. The pay on 
most roads is good. On the Great Ori- 
ental it is excellent; so one day we all 
met, quite a number of us, and taking 
the railroad officials guide we sent a 
letter to every officer In the whole 
country, asking him to give 50o and to 
send us the names of three friends. In 
that way every man was good for two 
dollars. In a short time we had over 
$100,000. We then purchased the land, 
and built the house. All men in the 
business are eligible to membership 
and are expected to contribute from 10c 
to $1 per month for the support of the 
home. We have received many fine do- 
nations from the officials of many rail- 
roads, who are supposed to hate us, ac- 
cording to the philosophy of Dictator 
Eugene V. Debs. There is a home in 
every State in this Union, and when a 
man looses an arm or leg. or grows old 
in the service, he con make application 
in the State he may live in and he will 
be given a home as long as he lives and 
behaves himself. He is free to go and 
come as he pleases, And employment, if 
there is anything he can do; but by the 
order he is never regarded as a pau- 
per. There are good books for him to 
read and games for him to amuse him- 
self. He Is given tobacco to chew and 
smoke; but as whiskey has been one of 
the drawbacks to the profession none 
is given, except in oases of sickness or 
a bad snake bite. Dr. John A. K. Bir- 
chett is the physician hi charge. We 
have accomodations for about 200, but 
at present there are only about fifty. 
They go and come. They are a jolly 


162 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


good set of men and can tell a good 
yarn of hairbreath ecsapes and fast 
time made. Men are brothers, Captain. 
God said so, all the great reformers 
have preached it, then why not let us 
try and practice it a little for a change? 
It would pay us better than some of the 
past methods. Men are only human 
and if you strike them, it is only nat- 
ural they will get back at you if they 
can. 

I then told Col. Morris I was well 
pleased with this scheme and believed 
it was. the only refuge for men in our 
business; and I would cheerfully help 
it when I could. The Colonel explain- 
ed the whole scheme to me, but its pro- 
duction here would only tire you; suf- 
fice to say from that day I became a 
member of the order and never let a 
week pass I did not go there. What 
surprised me was that the Presidnt, 
Col. Coppage, did not tell me of it when 
we were talking over the labor ques- 
tion, for I heard afterwards he was one 
of the most ardent supporters of the 
order. But the President never blew 
any trumpets, or give any torchlight 
processions when he did a good act, 
but his heart was always in the right 
place for his fellowman. For a more 
extended knowledge of this order, 
which has absorbed the “Americn Rail- 
way Union, I beg you read its consti- 
tution and by-laws. 

Continuing my conversation with Col. 
John Morris, I' asked him what had be- 
come of the “Populites.” I told him' T 
had said some rough things about 
them, but they had began the war on 
me by cartooning me. With this T 
took the paper. from my pocket and 
showed it to him. I remarked I would 
not have cared, but it come just at the 
time that I lost my ships. My expe- 
rience had been that the rich did not 
give the snap of their fingers what the 
poor said of them, but the idea of being 
taken out and hung for a rich man 
when I did not have a dollar was not 
very pleasant. 

The Colonel looked at the picture for 
a few minutes and burst into a hearty 
laugh. Why, Captain, 'said he, this 
paper is not published here in Vicks- 
burg or in the United States, but by 
a remnant of the “People’s Party”’ 
who, like Noah’s dove, could not find a 


place to rest the sole of their foot in 
this great and prosperous country; they 
all emigrated to Guina, in South 
America. The Great Cape Horn route 
give them a free excursion out of the 
country. I think the free and unlim- 
ited 16 to 1 coinage cranks will all fol- 
low them to a little end of the Horn. 

Col. Morris, said I, I am gratified that 
the country is rid of those Pops, for 
while this money question has been 
giving me a little trouble for a few 
days. The President, Col. Coppage, 
gave me a big lot of bonds a few days 
ago that he had printed. You know 
we have had it in' the papers for some 
time that we were going to build that 
Central American Railway of mine. 
Suppose you go with me to see General 
E. S. Butts, the President of the Vicks- 
burg Bank. The security is good; that 
is all the bank wants to know, and I 
would like to put my views to one more 
test before I stop — show my fellow- 
workingman he can get all the money 
he wants; good money; gold money, if 
he has got good collaterals. 

With this we arose from our seats 
and proceeded to this bank, corner of 
Washington Boulevard and Clay Ave- 
nue. As we walked in we found the 
room full of people doing business with 
this bank, one of the best in this coun- 
try. In a few minutes the General saw 
me and walked out of his office to 
greet me. If he had heard of the loss 
of my ships, which of course he had, the 
pressure of his hand did not convey the 
same. This gentleman. General Ed- 
ward S. Butts, is known far and wide 
for his social nature and is one of the 
best bankers in this country. He in- 
vited Col. Morris and I to come into 
his office, where being seated he began 
to chat pleasantly, not seeming to 
think we had called on business. Col. 
Morris explained that I, Captain Glo- 
ver, wished to borrow one thousand 
dollars on my Central American bonds. 

I at the same time laying 516,000 of the 
same upon the table. The General ex- 
amined the same carefully, remarking 
that the Transportation Department 
at Washington City had informed the 
bank that all the law had been com- 
plied with and that there was no water. 
He said that he also saw that Tom 
A. Middleton, many years the well 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 163 


known agent for the Q. & C., would T5e 
the general manager, and that I could 
get all the money I /wished. That it 
had always been the policy of his bank 
to n;ake loans on good collaterals; but 
he did not loan out the money of his 
bank on old mules that had gone on 
that famous trip around the world with 
that old navigator, Mr. Noah, or on 
crops that had not been planted, or 
consisted principally of cockleburs. 
He then called Will Hacket, the cashier, 
and told him to bring Capt. Glover 
$10,000, asking me lif I wished it in silver 
or gold or bank notes, all greenbacks 
having been called in when McKinley 
was president for the first time. I ex- 
plained that I only wished one thou- 
sand dollars for pocket change and 
would deposit the balance subject to 
my check; also the entire amount of 
stocks and bonds, as I always had 
great confidence in him as a business 
man, as a banker and as a gentleman; 
and the only thing I had against the 
banks of our country, which are the 
great things of our civilization, was 
that my personal check was not good 
on all of them. The banks prosper 
when the country prospers. 

Just then Capt. C. O. Willis another 
well known banker, walked in. He is a 
small man in statue, and shaking me 
by the hand, he inquired if the Cap- 
tain wished to obtain any further loans 
on his new railroad bonds; that Capt. 
Billy Jones, president of the Merchants’ 
National Bank, also wished to see me 
to know if the Great Oriental would 
put out the one hundred millions to 
build the third track, as the necessity 
for it was becoming more and more 
apparent every day. We needed the 
third track for our fast paper train 
and we had just ciosed the contracts 
with the United States and all the gov- 
ernments of the world and are to get 
three hundred million dollars per year 
to carry the mails. There is no doubt 
but we will have to have it in less than 
one year. Remember this was the first 
week in December, after the line was 
completed on the first day of Septem- 
ber. On part of the line we have two 
tracks. All the Great Cape Horn route 
is double track from Vicksburg to Val- 
paraiso, Chili. 

All this I explaioed to these bankers. 


who are anxious to let the reader have 
money if he has got good security, 
and there can be no doubt but what 
the Great Oriental Railroad Js good. 
I also informed them that the money 
I was getting was for my personal use 
and there was no doubt in my mind 
but what the Central American Rail- 
way would be built, and that very soon. 
I did not as yet know what the Presi- 
dent would do, but if we did have to 
sell any bonds we would never waste 
our time on hayseeds and busted news- 
paper men and bookwriters, who did not 
have money enough to stop a peanut 
vender. Banks have money to lend, 
just like dry goods stores have dry 
goods to sell, or wood yards, and 
so on. It began to look like the Bank- 
ers had waylaid me, for Capt. J. A. 
Conway, President of the People’s Sav- 
ing Bank, came in and he told me that 
he had about twenty-five millions in 
his bank he would like to put in the 
new bonds for the third track on the 
Great Oriental Road. He said it be- 
gins to look like President McKinley 
would not sell any more gold bonds. 
In reply to my question he said all of 
this money belonged to poor people and 
was deposited in sums of $1.00 and up- 
wards. This is true of nearly all banks 
ex-Senator James Z. George to the con- 
trary, notwithstanding. These well 
known Bankers, including W. B. Grif- 
fith, the President of the First Nation- 
all turned to go, when ^Gen. Butts 
told them all to be seated, that he 
would have Capt. Glover tell them all 
about India. 

Do not all ask questions, gentlemen, 
said I, at the same time, and I will 
lay you all out, if you will take your 
turn at the mill. I think we are all 
‘'gold bugs,” the despised insect at 
present. Fach gentleman then plied 
me with questions like lawyers in a 
big case, asking me all about the soil, 
climate, laws, customs banks and rail- 
roads. All these questions I answer- 
ed, some briefly, and some at length, 
and among other things told them 
what is no lie, that Mississippi, Douisa- 
na and Texas had the best climate and 
land in the world; the bravest and most 
intelligent men, and the prettiest and 
sweetest women on the top of this 
crust which we live on. 


164 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


Gen. Butts then asked me if I thought 
my friend, the Prince of Wales, would 
like that suit of clothing the Vicksburg 
Cotton Mills had shipped him? 

I replied I did not sec why that the 
Prince did not dress a bit better than 
did the President of the Vicksburg 
Bank. The General is a man who al- 
ways smiles when he talks, so he 
smiled a little more when I got this off 
on him. I had a long conversation 
with these Bankers, who are not 
myths and who counted their wealth 
in expectancy from one to ten mil- 
lions, and they all appeared to be in- 
terested in what I said, so It is an 
open question who knows the most, 
men who have plenty of money or those 
who have none. But there is a cause 
for everything and the reason for this 
was that President McKinley, being’ in 
the city a few weeks before, when the 
Great Oriental iRailroad was finished, 
had offered me the Secretary of the 
Treasury book. 

This should not appear strange, Mis- 
sissippi feels proud of her able finan- 
ciers who she has placed in the senate 
and made Governors of, in days now 
long gone by. Why should not this 
great nation yet call for so'me of them? 
I would like to give this conversation 
in full, but those I should hope to reach 
will in all probility not see this, and 
they are so prejudiced against Bank- 
ers, who are always among our best 
citizens, that they would not read it. 
You cannot reason with men who are 
very narrow between the eyes; but I 
will give a few questions and answers. 

Gen. Butts asked me if I thought the 
repeal of the laws on silver in 1873 and 
1893 had any thing to do with the price 
of cotton in 1894, and if the volume of 
money had anything to do with 
prices? 

At first blush, this would appear to 
be true General, said I, but in 1894, the 
year I left the United States, cotton 
sold for as low as 3c; the next year 
there was a short crop and a Man- 
chester spinner told me he paid as high 
as 10c. There was no increase in the 
volume of money that I heard of. It 
seemed to me to be a clear case of 
“supply and demand.’* The Southern 
planters do not seem to understand that 


India and Egypt are cotton fields now 
and have been growing in size for the 
past thirty years. This is also true, 
General, in the case of horses. A good 
horse for the farm used to cost from 
$150 to $200, now they can be had from 
$50 to $100. Any one can see that elec- 
tricity and the use of the bicycle had 
in a large measure affected the price 
of the noble and useful animal, and the 
horseless carriage was sure to cut him 
in price again, andj the standards, gold 
or silver, have nothing to do with the 
matter, ajid all statements to the con- 
trary is just that much wind. 

Capt. G. O. Willis wished to know if 
I thought there was any truth in the 
argument of a gentleman named Mr. 
Coin that England wished to dictate 
the financial policy of the United States. 
He was satisfied there was no truth 
in it; but would like my opinion 

I replied she did not. That England 
had tried all kinds of standards and 
near one hundred years ago, in 1816, 
she went to the gold. She bought our 
cotton and bonds and paid in her mon- 
^y, g'old. As there was plenty of sil- 
ver bullion to be had at 50c per ounce, 
she need not lose any sleep about get- 
ting it, but if we borrowed her capi- 
tal, which was gold, we must pay in 
the same. The gentlemen who make 
those kind of arguments must imagine 
they are teaching a lot of children, as 
all of this Is only an appeal to preju- 
dice, which is always the refuge of a 
man who has a poor case or no case. 

Before I go any further with this 
conYersation with these bankers it will 
be propel* here to say it was entirely 
unexpected to me, and I may as well 
here tell you I made no attempt to kill 
them off, as did young “Coin,” some 
twenty years ago, in his school in Chi- 
cago. I respected them as the best and 
most intelligent men of our city, just 
what those who are always ready to 
abuse them demanded them to be, men 
of good moral characters. No man 
would place his money in a bank when 
he knew the president and the cashier 
of the same were a lot of gamblers ; and 
they respected me as a representative 
man of my class, the working class, of 
whom I am in no wise ashamed, but 
only feel sorry for their ignorance at 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 165 


times. They knew I had once been a 
rich man and had been cartooned, but 
was now a poor man again, having lost 
all but my education, which fitted me 
for all kinds of society. There was no 
attempt to toady; they did not expect, 
demand or admire it, and if they had, 
they would not have received it from 
me. In the few months I had been 
with the Great Oriental Railway I had 
rpet them all in a business way, when I 
was arranging ifor the sale of our two 
hundred millions of gold bonds to com- 
plete the road of which I have told you 
many times, that the trains are daily 
crowded with their human freight and 
are carrying the products of all the 
heathen and civilized world. 

Ex-Governor Dr. S. D. Robbins, of 
Mississippi, who had walked in, wished 
to know of me, what I thought of free 
silver, 16 to 1. 

Governor, said I, you know in the 
practice of medicine what cures many 
ills does not cure any thing; and in 
schemes that prove too much, do not 
prove any thing. But why the people 
of Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas and 
the whole (South should be for free sil- 
ver I cannot understand. Senator 
John P. Jones, of Nevada, who I had 
the pleasure of meeting when I was in 
Washington City a few days ago, owns 
all the silver except that which the 
Great Oriental has on her engines. I 
have not heard of him coaching about 
Washington, making a grand distribu- 
tion to the “Coxey’s Army” when they 
were there. I think, (Governor Rob- 
bins, your scheme promises too much; 
therefore there is nothing in it to the 
workingman or the farming class you 
would wish to aid. 

But, Captain, said P. M. Harding, 
President of the Delta Trust and Bank- 
ing Company, Ex-Senator George and 
Ex- Senator and Ex-Governor and Ex- 
Secretary of War A. J. McLaurin. of 
Mississippi, say you are wrong to make 
gold the standard, and that there is not 
gold enough in the world to meet the 
demands of trade, what have you to 
say to this? Surely you would not at- 
tempt to contradict so eminent author- 
ities as these two statesmen? 

Why not, said I? They do not weigh 
twice as much as I do, and I would as 
soon lock horns with them about a 


matter on which. I know they are wrong 
as I would with the sand lot orator 
Dennis Kearney, of California, I will 
tell you a funny thing about their 
speeches. I heard the “People’s Parly” 
who, with the sookless statesman, had 
all emigrated to Guina, away down on 
the Great Cape Horn route, were col- 
lecting up their orations and are going 
to make a Bible !of them and were going 
to try to convert the Patagonians. I 
hope they will all stay there and meet 
with better success than they did in 
this country. But to more directly an- 
swer their statement, Capt. Harding, 
it is as silly to say that as it is to slay 
you should not make 36 inches one 
yard. All the civilized countries of the 
world now use gold to measure all 
others, and why? Its unchangeable 
ratios. It is not our only money, as 
“Coin” and others say. With this I 
laid own on the table a twenty dollar 
gold piece, a bank note, a treasury note 
and a silver dollar, a nickle and a cop- 
per cent, and there are other kinds. 
This, said I, picking up the national bank 
note, is as good as gold, because secur- 
ed by the bonds of this government; 
and this, said I, placing my hand on 
the silver dollar, has a commercial 
value of 50c, but is worth 100 cents, 
because we have twice as many gold 
dollars as we have silver ones; and this, 
said I, taking up the gold, is worth its 
weight anywhere — $1.29 per ounce — and 
has a corresponding value in the mints 
and markets of St. Petersburg, Berlin, 
Paris, London, and all countries of this 
globe. If it was destroyed to-day as a 
money metal it would still have a value 
in art and for ornamentation, but in 
discussing a question oif this kind, there 
is no need to entertain all kinds of prog- 
nostigations as to what would be if so 
and so was so. They are not so, and 
that ends the matter. It is useless to 
say to you gentlemen, who are all 
bankers, that 90 per cent, of the busi- 
ness of this land is not done with mon- 
ey at all, but with checks, notes, drafts, 
bill of exchange, and that the volume of 
money, good money, gold money, is 
greater to-day than ever before, being 
about 26 dollars per capita. The great 
improvements in machinery and in 
transportation has greatly reduced the 
cost of articles 0 (f all kinds; the im- 


166 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


proved methods of farming had greatly 
increased the supplys of farm products, 
and the measure has nothing to do 
with the matter. 

Here the conversation stopped for a 
few minutes by the coming in of Judge 
Richard C. Drew, of Minden, La., o-ne 
of the associate justices of the United 
States Supreme Court. He is a large, 
fine looking man, has a fiorid complex- 
ion and sandy hair, and beard. He 
shook me cordially by the hand and 
said he was in the city when the golden 
spike was driven and regretted he did 
not see me. I saw you chatting with 
the President, Wm. McKinley. 

Yes, Judge, said I, he is only a man 
like myself. In this country we are all 
equal, that is if we are out of jail. I 
then introduced him to my friends the 
bankers and explained to him that we 
were discussling the financial question 
and would be pleased to have him take 
a hand, that he used to be -a free silver 
Democrat. 

The Judge wanted to switch me off 
on the tariff question that has long di- 
vided the two great political parties in 
this country — tariff for revenue, tariff 
for protection and free trade, a germ of 
lunacy found only in the head of Demr- 
ocrats. 

Judge, said I, I will answer you and 
all others, in the language of one of the 
greatest men who was ever president. 
Abraham Lincoln. He said he was not 
much of a political economist, but one 
thing he did know, that if America 
paid England twenty dollars for a ton 
of steel that England had the money 
and we had the steel. But if America 
paid America twenty dollars for a ton 
of steel, we had both the steel and the 
money. This applied to all things that 
could be made in our country. The 
Judge and all those bankers who are 
Democrats, admitted that this was 
true. 

Continuing, said I, the soul oif all bus- 
iness is profit and if manufacturers 
cannot make profits they cannot pay 
wages; and men cannot buy at any 
price when they have no work and no 
money. 

Captain James M. Phillips, cashier 
and vice president of the First National 
bank, then asked me this question; 
Captain Glover, what is money? 


Money, said I, is a measure of value. 
We speak of money as wealth. The 
wealth of a nation does not consist of 
money, gold or silver, but in its stock 
of cattle, horses and grain, its improv- 
ed farms, great cities, great railroads 
and great manufacturing plants, to 
change the raw materials into articles 
of usefulness, and pleasure. If all the 
money, gold and silver, .were some 
night dumped into the ocean and the 
country had plenty of food and rai- 
ment, they need not suffer; but if the 
soil were to fail us for a few years, the 
people would die of hunger and cold, it 
matters not how much gold or silver 
they should have. To carry the point 
further. Captain Phillips, no kinds of 
money can be had w'ithout labor. We 
are not dealing with things as they 
might be, but as they are. I think the 
theory that anything the government 
calls money has been exploded when the 
old greenback fell from 100 cents in the 
dollar to 287. If paper made by the 
solons at Washington is money, and is 
so regarded by mankind, why this cir- 
cumstance? Not to make any comment 
on the great fall in the old Confederate 
notes; no kinds of paper is regarded as 
money when there is no coin behind it. 
There is no confidence in it, and when 
this is lacking, in all things there is 
slow moving. I could go on here and 
write a book of the questions and 
ai'swers of these bankers, but it could 
add nothing to what you have already 
read. So I will close by saying that 
while I sat there transactions am,ount- 
ing to millions took place as I have 
mentioned. 

This is to show that these were the 
days of fiush times in the city and that 
the gloomy days* of 1893-94 had departed 
never to return, when all men seemed 
to be afflicted with a stroke of paralysis 
of the brain about the future of these 
great United States, like the deluded 
pilgrims of the tenth century when 
journeying over the mountains of Asia 
following Peter the Hermit and Walter 
the Penniless. 

Gen. Butts, said I, how do you like 
McKinley for president? 

Well, Captain, said he, you know I 
am a Democrat, but I will tell you the 
truth I do not think he will do the 
country any harm. We had him one 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R, 167 


term before, also Tom Reed; but -you 
know how these things go. Most of us 
must hustle for a living, it matters not 
who is president. 

With this I bid the bankers g'ood day. 
and it will be the last time I will say 
much more on the money question. 1 
suppose you are glad to get a rest. 
Col. Morris and I walked out of this 
bank one thousand dollars better off 
than when we went in, and we saw if 
we needed more money to improve the 
Great Oriental Railway we could get 
it. 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 


At the corner, sitting in a fine car- 
riage and calling me to come and join 
him in a hide was my friend the mayor, 
Capt. McFarland.. 

W’hat were you doing in the bank so 
long. Captain? 

Oh, nothing much, said I. Doing 
what nearly everybody else does, talk- 
ing about something most of us have 
not got- -money. 

As we rode out the boulevard, we had 
come to the place where the Great Cape 
Horn Route crosses the river. Here the 
bluff is high, sloping to the great Mis- 
sissippi. I looked out and this is what 
I saw. As far as the eye could see 
there were gardens after gardens, re- 
minding me of the villages I had seen 
in Germany. 1 told him this sight 
pleased me and surprised me also. 
What was the cause?* 

Why Captain, some years ago we had 
a visit from the Scandinavian editors 
from Chicago, and then we had the 
Farmers’ Institute, composed of gov- 
ernors, bankers, lawyers, railroad men 
and merchants. Diamond pins were 
liberally distributed and a fine paper on 
Southdown sheep was read to the “Five 
O’clock Club.’’ It would be a strange 
man, indeed, who would suppose they 
would eat our cake and drink our 
wines and that would be the last of it. 
You know. Captain a governor is elect- 
ed to go to Mardi Gras and then go 


home and advise his people to move out 
of the State. Well, Captain Me., said 
I, you will have to excuse me, but you 
know I have been out of this country 
for twenty years. We took a long 
drive and were about to go to the cot- 
ton mill again, when Captain McFar- 
land remarked he had almost forgotten 
to show me one of the wonders of the 
world, and of this twentieth century. 
We will meet Col. Bancroft, the mana- 
ger there. He then told the driver. 
Step Leonard, a well known hackman, 
to drive to the Conway Square. This 
is what met my eyes. The most tre- 
mendous pile of brick, stone and iron 
I ever beheld, reminding me of pic- 
tures I have seen of the “Tower of Ba- 
bel.’’ I tried to see the top, but it was 
lost in the sky. The mayor saw me 
looking up for the top and said Captain 
Glover, she goes up 10 miles. 

In the’ name of the high heavens 1 
what is this, and where did you get it? 

That, said the Mayor, is the “Ameri- 
can Pure Air Plant.” They have one 
in Shreveport out where the old fair 
grounds used to be and they are putting 
them up in all the cities in this coun- 
try. In winter they furnish hot air, 
and in summer cold. A gentleman of 
this city originated the idea, and form- 
ed the syndicate, retaining a sufficient 
amount of stock to be the President of 
the same. 

Give me the details— how did they get 
to the top? 

I do not know, said his Honor; she 
is here, as you may see; how they built 
it I do not know, but 1 think John W. 
Beck, the well known builder, may be 
able to tell you. All I know is the bell 
at the top to catch the air is said to 
be one mile wide and made of three inch 
iron, and the city is all laid with pipe, 
and into every house it runs. All you 
have to do is to turn the valve in you 
room and the air will come in, on the 
same principal as gas. If it is July 
or August, the room will soon be a re- 
frigerator. 

Well, said I, that is the best thing 
in the world to get rid of disagreeable 
company — feeze them out. I hope no 
one will ever turn it on me. 

But, says the Mayor, I will tell you 
a funny thing about it. Last summer 


168 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R, 


in August a young lawyer was pre- 
paring an oration to go before a very 
cultured audience in Boston, where a 
friend stepped in and turned the valve. 
He was so absorbed in the speech that 
he froze to solid ice, with his pen in 
his hand, when found. But he was 
soon revived by Dr. J. H. Purnell, who 
dipped him in boiling water, 
and right there. Captain, one 
of the most important dis- 
coveries in the world was made by ac- 
cident, as most of them have been, and 
the management of the Armour Pack- 
ing Company has entered into a con- 
tract with the company to freeze all 
their cattle when they will load them 
in the cars of the Great Oriental Rail- 
road and ship them to Europe and, 
after being run through a fiery fur- 
nace, they will be ready to slaughter. 
You see the expense of feeding will be 
saved, and this is an age of economy, 
notwithstanding the fact we have plen- 
ty of money and good money, gold mon- 
ey. 

Your Honor, said I, if I was not look- 
ing at this big machiney, I would not 
believe it. But seeing is believing. 
Just then the enjg'ineer at a signal from 
the (Mayor turned on the steam, and as 
the engines were larger than those that 
drove the great Perris wheel at Chi- 
cago the roll over it sounded to me like 
the rolling of the distant thunder. It 
may not be out of place to give a brief 
description of this great city of the 
future, if we are optimistical and hope- 
ful. In the southern part of the city at 
the close of the nineteenth century 
there was a beautiful pleateau of many 
hundred acres. Here before us, lay 
this great city, containing over two 
hundred thousand people. Prom the 
boulevard running along the high bluff 
overlooking the Mississippi river 
the avenues run back east These 
were named after the promin- 
ent men of the city, and the 
country beginning, with old ex-Presi- 
dent Cleveland and McKinley. The 
streets, some one hundred in number, 
run north and south, and are named 
for the iStates of the Union — forty-four 
of them— and then they begin with A 
street. Around this big city is a fine 
boulevard named in honor of one of the 


city’s most foremost men, now gone 
where the secrets of all hearts shall be 
made known, the late Hon. Richard P. 
Beck, and called Beck’s Boulevard. 

Here the manuscript of Capt. John 
B. Glover ends and the writer appears. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 


Two years after the events narrated 
in the last chapter our Hero was sitting 
in his room in The Carroll Hotel, when 
the porter came in handing him) a note 
from his friend, the President of the 
Great Oriental Railroad, requesting his 
presence at the Union Depot. 

Captain, said the President, as he 
walked in, you have now been with 
us two years. I have not demanded 
much labor of you,, though I have sent 
you to St. Petersburg over the route 
mentioned several times. I consider 
you a very useful man to the company. 
I have now decided what will be your 
duties, wihile you remain in the employ 
of the Great Oriental Railway Com- 
pany. You are the President of the 
Board of Directors and my Private 
Secretary, and for these you have 
drawn your pay. The other members 
of the Board had a meeting yesterday 
and in addition to those duties we 
have concluded to ask you to be the 
host of tourist parties throughout Eu- 
rope. You will be provided with a car 
for your private use. Tomorrow the 
largest excursioq of prominent people 
which ever left America will leave this 
city at 10 a.m. The train will consist 
of thirty palace cars, containing the 
President of the United States, Major 
Wm. McKinley, and wife; also ex-Pres- 
ident Grover Cleveland and wife, that 
is if he does not write me a letter of 
excuse. (I do not know if his book, the 
letter writer, is complete as yet.) 
There w*!!! also be the Governors of 
nearly all the States. In all there will 
be 500 guest of the Great Oriental. I 
cannot accompany them, so I have se- 
lected you to go with them and make 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R, R. 169 


their trip one long to be remembered. 
The company desires that no expense 
shall be considered to entertain them, 
and extend to them all courtesies due 
their exaulted station in life, which 
will also add to the popularity of our 
Great Transcontinental line. Jim 
Talmadge, a well known engineer, will 
pull the train, and Col. T. Hampton 
Moore, a well known conductor, once 
with the Q. & C., will be in charge. 
General Manager George L. Gurley will 
also be with you. They wish to stop 
one day at Delhi, India, and see the 
Great Taj. I know you will be able to 
tell them all about it. Their objective 
point is the Holy Hand, where many 
years ago there walked and lived a 
man whose code was not so large as 
that of the United States, but whose 
life and character was embodied in a 
few good principals, which have been 
widely departed from in our mad strug- 
gle for wealth and power in this world, 
and who, among other things, said “the 
poor you have always with you.” This 
is all Captain, said the President. The 
hour is now 11 p.m., take a good night’s 
rest and at 8 a.m. I v.dll meet you at 
the Union Depot, where, if I have any 
aditional orders, I will give them to 
you. Good night and pleasant dreams. 

At 10 o’clock in this month of May, 
three years after the Captain had ar- 
rived in the United States, this train, 
having on board the distinguished peo- 
ple, including ex-President Cleveland 
and wife (his book was done) and being 
no longer annoyed by silver cranks, he 
concluded he would not go a fishing, 
but ride on this free train. 

Promptly at 10 o’clock the conductor 
cried all aboard, when the train, the 
handsomest the world ever saw, moved 
out amid the cheers of! the 100,000 people 
who had gathered to see her off on her 
great journey to the Oriental regions. 
Captain Glover shook hands with his 
friend, the President, Col. Coppage, for 
the last time, and raising his hat to 
the crowd that cheered him, he smiled 
and looked for the last time on the 
classic hills of old ■Vicksburg. 

As the train dashed over the great 
bridge the Captain looked on the peace- 
ful city where rest in peace, ’neath the 
shades of the beautiful trees and amid 
lovely flowers, this nations’s dead, I 


think the Captain had a wish to repose 
there w'hen life’s fitful fever would be 
over. But the train dashed on. In a 
few hours she had passed the Hot 
‘Springs following the line I have so 
often described. Before sundown the 
second day she had gone through the 
Great Tunnel under the Behring Strait. 
A fine supper was partaken of at the 
great depot on the Asia side, in a build- 
ing similar to the Boston and Maine 
Railway. When the journey was re- 
sumed the Captain made himself agree- 
able to all, as was his custom. At Mos- 
cow the train turned down by the bor- 
ders of the Caspian Sea. On the fourth 
night out from Vicksburg an accident 
took place that shocked the world. 
While the train was dashing towards 
the ‘‘Great Taj” and the moon was 
shedding its mellow light on that world 
famous tomb. Captain Glover was 
standing on the rear end of his car in 
company with the President and Ex- 
President Cleveland, of the United 
States, and he was pointing out things 
that were as familiar to him as they 
were about the city. All were smoking 
Railroad King Cigars and discussing 
the fad of the day— silver— when all of 
a sudden, and without a moment’s no- 
tice, the whole train plunged violently 
down a high embankment. Many peo- 
ple were hurt, but, strange tO' say, none 
seriously except the renowned Captain 
Glover, the hero of this story. He was 
picked up insensible by Major McKin- 
ley, and as they were near the city of 
Delhi, India, he was carried to the Uni- 
ted States Hotel, where he rallied suf- 
ficient to dictate a letter to his friend. 
President Coppage, to keep up the 
standard of wages on the Great Ori- 
ental Railway, as 100 years would do to 
pay the Uncle Sam. And there, sur- 
rounded by many friends, and in the 
presence of the President of these Uni- 
ted States, Wm. McKinley, this Hero, 
the world renowned, met the fate of all 
Heroes, and peacefully passed away, 
amid a blaze of glory in his country. 
His death was telegraphed to the “land 
of the free and the home of the brave” 
and expressions of sorrow were heard 
on all sides. The laboring men through- 
out the land were deeply affected by the 
death of our Hero, for though he had 

said some hard things oif them, they 


170 THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 


felt in their hearts he had never de- 
ceived them and was their friend, and 
fully felt the wrongs they had at times 
to endure because of their poverty. 
“For the destruction of the poor is their 
poverty.” The capitalists of the coun- 
try admired him for his brains, which 
was his only capital when his ships 
were lost. 

Captain Glover was a great man and 
was everybody’s friend. His friendS; 
the President of the Greiat Oriental 
Railway, sent a special train to bring 
his remains to his native land. Nine 
cities claimed the birth place of Homerj 
the Greek poet, and many asked to 
have the remains of our Hero, but it 
was finally decided, as he was an old 
Union soldier, he should be laid away 
at the National capital. So there, amid 
the tears of the nation, he was reverent- 
ly laid away in the beautiful Arlington, 
and ’neath the shadows of that marble 
building which 'will endure when all 
those are gone, who in the vivid imagi- 
nation think they see her crumbling 
away when their views do not become 
laws. 

After the Captain was dead some 
months the officials began to investi- 
gate the cause of this wreck, and it was 
found out that some silver crank, not 
being able to put their views in opera- 
tion in this land, had taken out the gold 
rail and put in the silver one. Being 
of pure silver, it was found to be too 
soft to bear the ponderous weight of 
the engine and train. This, with the 
undermining of the tressel, caused it to 
give away. The same is the talk of 
take this or nothing to our creditors, 
has caused confidence in our honesty 
to be shaken, our mills to be closed 
down and our land to be filled with 
tramps, who are men without work, 
and therefore without money. The 
President of the Great Oriental, after 
he had recovered from the tragic death 
of his friend and secretary, went to 
The Carroll and took charge of hisi per- 
sonal effects. In his trunk he found a 
letter appointing him executor of his 
will, with the request that after taking 
what the law gave him, he turn the 
same over to the three organizations 
mentioned — the Independent Order of 
Labor, the King’s Daughters and the 
Brotherhood of Railroad Men. 


CONCLUSION. 


Two years after Captain Glover had 
passed away, for you are still in the 
twentieth century, the writer arrived in 
this city and having some business with 
the Delta Bank, I met Captain P. M. 
Harding, the well known banker, who 
was a great friend of the Captain’s 
and I asked him about the Hero oif this 
story. He told me that the Capta^in 
was one of the most all-round charac- 
ters he had ever known. He was hon- 
est in all his dealings and possessed of 
great love for his fellow man. He was 
well versed in all topics and was at 
home with prince or pauper. He was 
also a man of good moiral character, 
and very temperate in his habits. He 
said that the Captain was a great talk- 
er, when the necessity of the case re- 
quired it, and many thought he told 
his business to every one, but he did 
not. He supposed he was the only man 
in the city, except Major Lee Richard- 
son, who knew that the Captain recov- 
ered something from his fleet of ships. 
The telegram and the letter were only 
a device of his , friend, the Prince of 
Wales, to get him to return to that 
country. 

I told him I had heard that the Cap- 
tain had some kind of wheel in his head 
about tunnelling the Atlantic Ocean 
between New York and Liverpool. Ho 
replied that was not true, that the Cap- 
tain was one of the most practical men 
he ever came iu contact with, and was 
one of the best judges of human nature 
he ever saw. He said that Captain 
Glover was a tall man, with gray hair, 
wore a moustache, but no beard, was 
about 50 years of age at the time of his 
death. He wore a Prince Albert coat 
and always walked wuth a gold headed 
cane. He then told me that Col. Cop- 
page, at the A. & V. depot, had a large 
quantity of some kind of notes the 
Captain had left, and 11 would go to him 
and he would no doubt be pleased to 
have me look over them. To this gen- 
tleman I also went, when he turned 


THE GREAT ORIENTAL AND TRANS-CONTINENTAL R. R. 171 


me over a large quantity of manuscrip’ 
belonging to his late Secretary, saying 
he disliked to part with it, but it was 
important the world should know some- 
thing of the future Great Oriental rail- 
way and he would be pleased to have 
me place the notes in an interesting 
style. He then told me that one week 
after the Captain’s death another char- 
acter who has figured in this story, 
passed away. Col. Bancroft was heart- 
broken at the loss of his friend, the 
Captain, and he wandered about the 
cotton mills like a man in a dream. He 
was going from one part of the build- 
ing to another, and though he had 
passed this hatchwaay many times it 
had always been closed. This day it 
was open and he fell through and was 
killed. 

Col. Bancroft was born in the beauti- 
ful little city of Monroe, La., and went 
north after \he war, having served with 
distinction under General Robert H. 
Lee. Thus you see, these two men, 
though divided once in life, were united 
again in life and then in death. 

Having disposed of all the characters 
that I care ito, my task is now done. I 
have nothing more to say or tell and 
as I lay down my pen this great rail- 
road, which has an existence only in 
my imagination, recedes rapidly from 
my brain, like cities, mountains and 
rivers from the traveler on a fast move- 
ing express train, and the visionary 


world and imaginary age, where all is 
peace, w>here money is plentiful, and 
men are just, is again replaced by the 
natural one, where around me still are 
my fellow man, with his ambition and 
avarice, jealousy and passion, trials, 
struggles, triumphs and disappoint- 
ments, while the poor and the toiling 
millions still plod on their weary way. 
I cannot say I have found no pleasure 
in the work, the conversation and 
dizzy heights of political and commer- 
cial and professional life that these 
characters have been carried, nearly 
all who are the personal friends of the 
writer, for I have, and I trust 
I have kept my promise made 
in the first chapter of this 
book, that I would tell of many 
wonderful things, and would show that 
which we have not already achieved, 
must in the nature of things be in the 
bright future. There is no need that 
any man or woman should despair, for 
millions yet unborn will labor in the 
resources of this great world, as yet 
not half developed, so with this the au- 
thor of Capt. Glover and his Great 
Oriental Railroad bids you farewell. 

For this world is full of trouble, there 
is nothing here but woe; there are 
hardships, trials and struggles no mat- 
ter where we go; go where you will, do 
what you may, we are never! never! 
free from care, for the immortal Gen. 
Washington built his castles in the air. 


THE END 



^lie ^uecn 3c Crescerit I^oute. -t- -t- ♦ -t- -t- -t- 


For Maps, Raiss and all Information, apply in person or with letter to 

C. C. HARVEY, President, New Orleans, La. 

Col. I. HARDY. Passenger Agent, New Orleans, La. R. H. GARRETT, Ass’t Pass. Agent, New Orleans, La. 

W. W. BOND, Superintendent, Vicksburg, Miss. 

J. H. DUNN, Ticket Agent, Vicksburg, Miss. F. M. DONOHUE, Ticket Agent, Shreveport, La. 

W. B. McGROARTV, Traveling Passenger Agent, Jackson, Miss. 
























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